Gettysburg and Lincoln 

The Battle, the Cemetery, and 
the National Park 



By 
Henry Sweetser Burrage 

Brevet Major, U. S. Vols. 



Illustrated 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

^be IknicKerbockec ptcsd 

1906 



LIBRARY or CONGRESS 
Two CopiM ReuivM 

SEP 28 t906 

/70«M««Ynt Entry 
CLASS />7XXCm «•» 



Copyright. 1306 

by 

HENRY S. BURRAGE 



TO 

LIEUT.- COLONEL JOHN P. NICHOLSON 

SOLDIER AND PATRIOT 



PREFACE 

TN the autumn of 1904, I obtained a photograph 
of a manuscript copy of President Lincoln's 
Gettysburg Address. At first I supposed I had a 
photograph of the original manuscript, as un- 
mistakably the handwriting was Mr. Lincoln's, 
and the copy was dated November 19, 1863, the 
date of the consecration of the cemetery at Gettys- 
burg. But in an extended search for the facts 
connected with the address, it was made plain 
that what I had was a photograph of a manuscript 
copy of the address, — a copy made by Mr. Lincoln 
in April, 1864, — and not a photograph of the 
original manuscript. In the course of my in- 
vestigations I obtained so many interesting facts 
concerning the composition and delivery of 
Mr. Lincoln's address that I finally decided to 
bring together my material in the form in which 
it appears in Part II of this volume. The story 
of the battle and the record of the development 



VI 



Preface 



of the National Park were added in order to present 
in a connected way the principal facts covering the 
period from the commencement of the Gettysburg 
campaign to the present time. 

The principal sources of my information concern- 
ing the battle are to be found in the '' Official 
Records of the Union and Confederate Armies." 
Other sources are sufficiently indicated in the 
foot-notes. ^ In the preparation of the part of the 
work pertaining to the cemetery and President 
Lincoln's address, I am indebted to the late Hon. 
John Hay, Secretary of State, and especially to an 
article in the Century Magazine by Mr. John G. 
Nicolay, President Lincoln's private secretary. 
Much material for an account of the development 
of the National Park was found in Vanderslice's 
History of the Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial 
Association^ and in the annual reports of the 
Gettysburg National Park Commission. 

In various visits to the battle-field I have 
received invaluable aid from Lieut. -Colonel John 
P. Nicholson, chairman of the Gettysburg National 
Park Commission, also from his associates on the 
Commission. The maps indicating the position 



Preface vii 

of both armies July ist, 2d, and 3d, have received 
the correction and approval of Lieut.-Colonel 
E. B. Cope, the Engineer of the Commission. 
The illustrations are from photographs made by 
the well-known Gettysburg photographer, W. H. 
Tipton — a selection from his large collection of 
views illustrating the battle-field. 

H. S. B. 

ToGUS, Maine, July 4, 1906. 



CONTENTS 

PART I. THE BATTLE 

I, — Lee Crosses the Potomac 
II. — Gettysburg. The First Day 
III. — Gettysburg. The Second Day 
IV.— Gettysburg. The Third Day 
V. — The Retreat 



PAGE. 

66 



PART II. THE CEMETERY 



I. — Origin of the National Cemetery . 8r 

II. — Arrangements for the Consecration 

OF THE Cemetery . . -87 

III. — President Lincoln Goes to Gettys- 
burg ...... 95 

IV. — ^The Consecration Services . . 106 

V. — Impression Made by President Lin- 
coln's Address .... 122 

VI. — President Lincoln's Revision of his 

Address ..... 126 

VII. — Provision for the Completion and 

Maintenance of the Cemetery . 136 



Contents 



PART III. THE NATIONAL PARK 
J ^WORK OF THE GETTYSBURG BATTLE-FIELD 

Memorial Association 
11^ Work of the National Park Com- 
mission 
Appendix A 
B 
C 
D 

Index 



143 

163 
190 
203 
204 
207 

"5 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Meade Statue . . . Frontispiece v 

Maj.-Gen. George G. Meade ... 14 
The Reynolds Statue. . . , .20, 

Gettysburg's Hero, John Burns . . 24 

Little Round Top ..... 34 

The Peach Orchard ..... 36 

RiCKETTs's Battery, East Cemetery Hill . ^8 

The Warren Statue on Little Round Top . 40 

Gen. Meade's Headquarters ... 44 

The Scene of Pickett's Charge ... 54 
Little and Big Round Tops . . .58 

The Hancock Statue ..... 66 
Main Avenue, National Cemetery . .82 

Abraham Lincoln ..... 96 

The Entrance to the National Cemetery . 102 

The Graves in the National Cemetery . 136 

Monument in the National Cemetery . 138 
The New York State Monument in the 

National Cemetery .... 144 

The Swale near Spangler's Spring . . 148 

The High-Water Mark Monument . . 158 

The Brigade Tablet ..... 164 ^ 

Cross-Section, Telford Avenue Foundation 166 ,, 

Tower on Confederate Avenue . . 170 / 



xli Illustrations 



PAGE 



Hancock Avenue, Looking North . .174 
Confederate Avenue . . . .176 

The Slocum Statue ..... 180 
A Finished Avenue with Paved Guttering. 186 



Diagrams 

First Day ....... 20 

Second Day ...... 34 

Third Day ....... 48 




■■•---,-: - ''**-., ■. 


■-- ';^:^ -<:^j:^ 




--^^^-— 1 




mmJ 



Frontispiece. 



Meade Statue. 



PART I 
THE BATTLE 



THE BATTLE 



CHAPTER I 

LEE CROSSES THE POTOMAC 

AFTER the battle of Chancellorsville, Hooker 
reorganized the Army of the Potomac. The 
following generals were assigned to the command 
of the several corps of the army: to the First, 
Reynolds; to the Second, Hancock; to the Third, 
Sickles ; to the Fifth, Meade ; to the Sixth, Sedgwick ; 
to the Eleventh, Howard ; and to the Twelfth, 
Slocum. The Cavalry Corps was commanded by 
Brigadier-General George Stoneman, and consisted 
of three divisions under Pleasonton, Averill, and 
Gregg, together with the Regular Reserve Cavalry 
Brigade commanded by Buford. On May 22, 
1863, Stoneman was relieved from duty with the 
Army of the Potomac, as also was Averill, and 
the command of AveriU's division devolved on 
Colonel Duffie of the First Rhode Island Cav- 
alry. To General Hunt was given the artil- 
lery command, which consisted of sixtv-five 

3 



4 The Battle 

batteries, with three hundred and seventy guns. 
The entire force numbered about eighty-two 
thousand men, which at the time of the battle of 
Gettysburg had been increased to a Httle more 
than ninety thousand. 

At the same time Lee divided his nine divisions 
of the Army of Northern Virginia, hitherto brought 
together in two army corps commanded by Long- 
street and Jackson, into three army corps of three 
divisions each. Longs treet retained the command 
of the First, Ewell was assigned to the Second, and 
A. P. Hill to the Third. The artillery, which hith- 
erto had iDcen divided among the several divisions 
of the two corps, was now placed under the com- 
mand of General W. N. Pendleton, and comprised 
fifteen battalions, each composed of four batteries 
of four pieces, sixteen in all. These fifteen battal- 
ions were divided among the three corps, each re- 
ceiving five battalions or eighty guns. With the 
cavalry were five mounted batteries of six pieces 
each. The whole gave Lee two hundred and sev- 
enty guns. The cavalry, in a single division, was 
under the command of General J. E. B. Stuart. 
Lee's whole force is estimated at about seventy- 
eight thousand men. 

While Lee was engaged in reorganizing his army, 
he was at the same time busy in planning an inva- 
sion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Such an inva- 



Lee Crosses the Potomac 5 

sion promised relief to Pemberton's army besieged 
by Grant at Vicksburg. It was also thought that a 
campaign on Northern soil would be helpful to the 
Confederate cause abroad. The time seemed fa- 
vorable for a movement of this kind. It was known 
that in May and June Hooker's army would lose 
about fifteen thousand men by the expiration of 
their term of service. Moreover, defeat at Fred- 
ericksburg and Chancellors ville, it was supposed, 
had so dampened the ardor of the North with refer- 
ence to the war as to make the enlistment of new 
troops more and more difficult. It was also thought 
that the proposed invasion would furnish an occa- 
sion for developing among those who had been half- 
hearted hitherto a feeling of hostility to the further 
prosecution of the war. On the other hand, Lee was 
receiving enthusiastic recruits. To his men, flushed 
with victory and eager for an aggressive campaign 
on Northern soil, no task seemed too great. The 
failure of the Maryland campaign, in 1862, was 
either forgotten or lightly passed over. The right 
time for a successful invasion of the North seemed 
to have come, and Lee and his officers bent all their 
energies to preparations for transferring the seat of 
war from Virginia to Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
At length all was ready. Lee was at the head of 
a solid, strong, effective body of men. Leaving 
Hill's corps at Fredericksburg in order to detain 



6 The Battle 

Hooker in his present quarters by the display of a 
large Confederate force in that place and vicinity, 
Lee concentrated the rest of his army at Culpeper 
Court-House, near his cavalry headquarters. But 
Hooker was not unmindful of the fact that Lee was 
meditating a movement northward. This he had 
learned from his secret-service helpers, and on May 
28th he informed President Lincoln that the Army 
of Northern Virginia was about to make an 
advance in that direction. 

At the same time Hooker was busy with prob- 
lems having reference to his own movements for the 
purpose of thwarting the enemy. One thing he 
deemed essential in order to a successful prosecu- 
tion of his plans, namely that he should have the 
control of all the forces operating against Lee ; and 
in a telegram to the President he sought to impress 
this suggestion upon the mind of the chief execu- 
tive. ''Lender instructions from the Major-General 
commanding the army, dated January 31st," he 
said , * * I am instructed to keep ' in view always the 
importance of covering Washington and Harper's 
Ferry, either directly or by so operating as to be 
able to punish any force of the enemy sent against 
them. ' In the event the enemy should move, as I 
almost anticipate he will, the head of his column 
will probably be headed toward the Potomac, via 
Gordonsville or Culpeper, while the rear will rest on 



Lee Crosses the Potomac 7 

Fredericksburg. After giving the subject my best 
reflection, I am of the opinion that it is my duty to 
pitch into his rear, although in so doing the head of 
his column may reach Warrenton before I can re- 
turn. Will it be within the spirit of my instruc- 
tions to do so?" 1 

In his reply to this telegram, Mr. Lincoln, on the 
same date, said : " So much of professional military 
skill is requisite to answer it, that I have turned the 
task over to General Halleck. He promises to per- 
form it with his utmost care. I have but one idea 
which I think worth suggesting to you, and that is, 
in case you find Lee coming to the north of the 
Rappahannock, I would by no means cross to the 
south of it. If he should leave a rear force at Fred- 
ericksburg, tempting you to fall upon it, it would 
fight in intrenchments and have you at disadvan- 
tage, and so, man for man, worst you at that point, 
while his main force would in some way be getting 
an advantage of you northward. In one word, I 
would not take any risk of being entangled upon the 
river, like an ox jumped half over a fence and liable 
to be torn by dogs front and rear, without a fair 
chance to gore one way or kick the other. If Lee 
would come to my side of the river, I would keep on 
the same side, and fight him or act on the defense, 

1 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 
serial xliii., p. 30. 



8 The Battle 

according as might be my estimate of his strength 
relatively to my own. But these are mere sugges- 
tions, which I desire to be controlled by the judg- 
ment of yourself and General Halleck. " ^ 

General Halleck, in his reply to this telegram, 
assured Hooker that by his instructions of January 
3 ist, he was left entirely free to act as circumstances 
might require with the simple injunction "to keep 
in view the safet}^ of Washington and Harper's Fer- 
ry. " Should Lee leave a part of his forces in Fred- 
ericksburg, while with the head of his column he 
moved by Gordonsville or Culpeper toward the Po- 
tomac, he thought that such a movement would give 
Hooker great advantages upon his flank to cut him 
in two, and fight his divided forces. *' Would it not 
be more advantageous to fight his movable column 
first, instead of first attacking his intrenchments, 
w^th your own forces separated by the Rappahan- 
nock ?" 

Lee commenced his movement for the concen- 
tration of his army at Culpeper, June 3d. A 
change in the encampments of the enemy was 
early discovered by observers within Hooker's line. 
On the evening of the day in which Hooker sent his 
telegram to the President, and received in return 
the above comments made by the President and 

1 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, serial 
xliii., p. 31. 



Lee Crosses the Potomac 9 

General Halleck, he informed the President 
that he had concluded to make a demonstration on 
the enemy by throwing a couple of bridges across 
the Rappahannock at Franklin's Crossing, in order 
to learn if possible what the enemy was doing. 
On the pontoons thus laid, Sedgwick crossed the 
river that afternoon, captured about fifty prisoners, 
who reported that the changes noticed in their 
camps proceeded from the reorganization of their 
army. It was said that all of Longstreet's com- 
mand was with Lee, and that Lee had no infantry 
force higher up the Rappahannock than its junc- 
tion with the Rapidan. But this information, 
which was misinformation, did not satisfy Hooker 
long, and on June 7th he ordered Pleasonton to 
make a reconnaisance in the direction of Culpeper. 
Two infantry brigades were added to his command. 
It was an opportune movement. Stuart had invited 
Lee to review the Confederate cavalry at Brandy 
Station on the 8th. The review was held, and, as 
Stuart designed, made an impressive display. 
On the evening of that day, Stuart bivouacked 
near the station, establishing his headquarters on 
Fleetwood Hill. His force amounted to about nine 
thousand five hundred men. The Union force was 
not as large. Pleasonton, in his movement, kept 
his communications open by means of the infantry, 
and directed his division commanders to rendez- 



lo The Battle 

vous at Brandy Station, supposing Stuart to be at 
Culpeper. While Duffie was advancing by way of 
Stevensburg, Buford with his division came upon 
the enemy between Brandy Station and Beverly 
Ford. A sharp contest lasting several hours fol- 
lowed, and then Buford withdrew. Later Gregg 
encountered Stuart, getting into his rear, but like 
Buford he fought alone, and after a brisk, sharp 
engagement, Gregg withdrew. But so severely 
was Stuart handled by both Buford and Gregg 
that infantry supports were required by Stuart 
in resisting them, a fact that revealed to 
Pleasonton the presence of Lee's infantry in 
the neighborhood, and indicated that a movement 
northward on Lee's part had already commenced. 

In the cavalry engagement at Brandy Station, 
Gregg commanded his own division (the Third) and 
Duffie 's (the Second). Subsequently the Cavalry 
Corps was again reorganized, and comprised two 
divisions, the first commanded by Buford and the 
second by Gregg. Each of the divisions consisted 
of three brigades. Stuart's force was badly crippled 
at Brandy Station, while the effect of that engage- 
ment upon Pleasonton 's force was highly inspiriting. 

Ewell left Culpeper, June loth, with orders to 
clear the valley of the Union forces then occupying 
its lower part. On June i ith, Milroy, who was at 
Winchester with a large Union garrison, when 



Lee Crosses the Potomac n 

informed of Confederate movements in the valley — 
a cavalry raid by Stuart having been mentioned in 
a despatch from Halleck — expressed confidence in 
his ability to hold his position against any force 
the enemy could bring against him. As late as 
June 1 2th, General Schenck, to whose command 
Milroy belonged, telegraphed to General Halleck, 
"Have you any knowledge or belief that there is 
any rebel infantry in the valley or north of the Rap- 
pahannock, or this side of the Blue Ridge? There 
seems to me to be yet only parties of cavalry. " 
On the 14th, Ewell attacked Milroy, whose force 
easily and speedily was " shattered and scattered," 
^lilroy with the remnant of his command falling 
back to Harper's Ferry, abandoning his artillery 
and wagon-trains, also his sick and wounded. 

Hooker left his position opposite Fredericksburg 
June 13th, and proceeded to place his army on the 
line of the Orange and Alexandria railroad. Rey- 
nolds was in command of the left wing of the Army 
of the Potomac, consisting of the First, Third, and 
Eleventh corps. Doubled ay succeeding him in the 
command of the First Corps . Hooker was with the 
right wing of the army embracing the Second, 
Fifth, Sixth, and Twelfth corps. With the dis- 
appearance of the Sixth Corps from Stafford 
Heights — the last of the Union troops to leave — 
Hill started for Culpeper. Longstreet left Cul- 



12 The Battle 

peper June 15th, with orders to move along the 
eastern base of the Blue Ridge, covering the 
Confederate advance with Stuart's cavalry, which 
took its place between Longstreet's corps and the 
Union army. While engaged in this movement, 
and while Hill was entering the valley in his rear, 
Longstreet found that Lee had so far modified his 
plan as to authorize Stuart, when the opportunity 
should arrive, to cross the Potomac in Hooker's 
rear with three of his five brigades, and pass- 
ing around his right to rejoin the main body of 
the army in its northward march — a fatal mistake 
on Lee's part, for in his ** nomadic ride," as Long- 
street calls it, Stuart left Lee without the means 
of securing needed information concerning the 
whereabouts of the Union army, while the results 
of Stuart's raid were of the most meagre kind . 

On June 2 2d , Lee's force was so well in hand that 
he ordered Ewell to cross the Potomac and move 
hid colvimns toward the Susquehanna by way of 
Emmittsburg, Chambersburg, and McConnellsburg. 
"If Harrisburg comes within your means," he 
added, "capture it." Ewell crossed the Potomac 
on the 23d, at Shepherdstown. Longstreet's corps 
crossed at Williamsport on the 24th. Hill, with his 
corps, was on the Maryland side one day later. 
The three corps came together at Hagerstown, Md. 
On the 2 7th, Longstreet and Hill were at Chambers- 



Lee Crosses the Potomac 13 

burg, Pa. Rodes and Johnson's divisions of Ewell's 
corps had at that time advanced as far as CarHsle, 
while Early's division was on the way to York, via 
Greenwood and Gettysburg. Early pushed on rap- 
idly, and succeeded in breaking the railroad be- 
tween Baltimore and Harrisburg on the 28th, but 
was unable to seize the bridge over the Susquehan- 
na at Wrights ville as he hoped, the bridge before his 
arrival having been burned by a small militia force ; 
and he accordingly retired to York, where he bivou- 
acked that night. Lee, receiving intelligence to 
the effect that Hooker had crossed the Potomac and 
was moving northward — ^not knowing, however, 
how far or in what direction he had advanced — now 
ordered Ewell to retrace his steps and rejoin the 
rest of the army at Cashtown, whither Hill was 
directed to move his corps on the 28th, while 
Longstreet was to follow on the next day. 

Ewell's movement secured needed supplies for 
Lee's army, but at the same time it served most 
effectively to arouse the people of Pennsylvania 
to the dangers that threatened them; indeed it 
quickened the war spirit throughout the North as 
nothing else could have done. Governor Curtin of 
Pennsylvania called for sixty thousand men for 
the defence of the Keystone State, and the call 
was promptly answered. Enlistments were now 
hastened in all of the States. 



14 The Battle 

Meanwhile Hooker was making his way north- 
ward, covering the capital in his march. He began 
to cross the Potomac at Edward's Ferry on the 
25th, and the crossing was completed on the fol- 
lowing day. The First and Third corps encamped 
near Middletown, while the Eleventh Corps ad- 
vanced to Boonsborough. The Second, Fifth, and 
Sixth corps were halted at Frederick, while the 
Twelfth was sent to Harper's Ferry. In connection 
with this corps Hooker desired to use the garrison at 
Harper's Ferry in a movement on Lee's commun- 
ications, but Halleck refused to give his consent, 
and on the 28th, Hooker, regarding this refusal as 
an indication that his plans would continue to be 
thwarted by Halleck, asked to be relieved of his 
command, and the request was granted. 

In making his request to be relieved. General 
Hooker said: "My original instructions require me 
to cover Harper's Ferry and Washington. I have 
now imposed upon me, in addition, an enemy in my 
front of more than my number. I beg to be under- 
stood , respectfully, but firmly, that I am unable to 
comply with this condition with the means at my 
disposal." 1 Hooker's desire to increase his effec- 
tive force by the addition of troops at Harper's 
Ferry and vicinity was a reasonable one, but he 

*■ Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, serial 
xliii, p. 60. 




Maj.-Gen. Geo. G. Meade. 



Lee Crosses the Potomac 15 

certainly overestimated the strength of Lee's army 
in comparison with his own. 

General Meade, commanding the Fifth Corps, was 
made Hooker's successor. In his letter to Meade 
accompanying the order which placed him in com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac, General 
Halleck said: "You will not be hampered by any 
minute instructions from these headquarters. 
Your army is free to act as you may deem proper 
under the circumstances as they arise. You will, 
however, keep in view the important fact that the 
Army of the Potomac is the covering army of Wash- 
ington, as well as the army of operation against the 
invading forces of the rebels. You will, therefore, 
maneuver and fight in such a manner as to cover 
the capital and also Baltimore, as far as circum- 
stances will admit. Should General Lee move upon 
either of these places, it is expected that you will 
either anticipate him or arrive so as to give him 
battle. All forces within the sphere of your opera- 
tions will be held subject to your orders. Harper's 
Ferry and its garrison are under your direct orders."^ 

The command of the Fifth Corps was now given 
to one of its division commanders, General George 
Sykes. A reorganization of the cavalry of the 
Army of the Potomac took place on the 28th. Kil- 

1 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, serial 
xliii. p. 61. 



i6 The Battle 

patrick, who had commanded a brigade in Gregg's 
division, was placed in command of Stahel's divi- 
sion, which was then added to the Cavalry Corps 
of the Army of the Potomac as the Third Division. 
Buford was left in command of the First Division 
and Gregg of the Second. 

On the morning of the 29th, after ascertaining 
the position of the several corps of his command, 
Meade continued the movement of the army 
northward, directing the left wing, consisting of the 
First, Third, and Eleventh corps under Reynolds, 
to proceed to Emmittsburg, while he advanced his 
right wing as far as New Windsor. The Cavalry 
Corps was in the advance, Buford on the left, Kil- 
patrick in front, and Gregg on the right. 

At 1 1 A. M. on the 29th, in the following telegram 
to General Halleck, Meade disclosed his general 
purpose as follows : " If Lee is moving for Baltimore, 
I expect to get between his main army and that 
place. If he is crossing the Susquehanna, I shall 
rely upon General Couch, with his force, holding 
him until I can fall upon his rear and give him 
battle which I shall endeavor to do. . . . My 
endeavor will be, in my movements, to hold my 
force well together, with the hope of falling upon 
some portions of Lee's army in detail. " 

On the night of June 30th, the position of the 
Army of Northern Virginia was as follows : General 



Lee Crosses the Potomac 17 

,? Lee's headquarters were at Greenwood. A part of 
\ the First Corps under Longstreet was at Green- 
ii wood and a part at Chamber sburg, twenty-four 
|. miles from Gettysburg. A part of the Second 
Corps under Hill was at Heidlersburg,ten miles from 
Gettysburg, and the rest near Green Village, twenty- 
three miles from Gettysburg. A part of the Third 
Corps under Ewell was at Cashtown, eight miles 
from Gettysburg, and the rest was at Greenwood.^ 
The position of the several corps of the Army of 
the Potomac on the same night was as follows : The 
First Corps was at Marsh Creek on the Emmitts- 
burg road, six miles from Gettysburg; the Second 
Corps at Uniontown, twenty-two miles distant; 
the Third Corps at Bridgeport, twelve miles 
distant ; the Fifth Corps at Union Mills, fifteen miles 
distant ; the Sixth Corps at Manchester, twenty-two 
miles distant ; the Eleventh Corps at Emmittsburg, 
twelve miles distant; and the Twelfth Corps at 
Littletown, nine miles distant. Buford's cavalry, 
except one brigade guarding the train, was at Get- 
tysburg. Kilpatrick was at Hanover, thirteen miles 
distant, and Gregg at Manchester, twenty-two miles 
distant. The artillery reserve under Hunt was at 
Taneytown with Meade and the headquarters of 
the Army 01 the Potomac, fourteen miles distant.^ 

iLongstreet's From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 349. 
2Hunt, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iii., p. 273. 



1 8 The Battle 

On that day, Heth, commanding a division in 
Hill's corps, ordered Pettigrew's brigade to proceed 
from Cashtown to Gettysburg in order to procure 
for his men a supply of shoes, which it was supposed 
the stores of the place could supply, notwithstand- 
ing the heavy draft Early had made upon them a 
few days before. As Pettigrew, about half-past 
nine,* was entering the town — he came as far as 
the crest of Seminary Hill — he probably learned of 
the approach of Buford's cavalry, and ignorant as 
to the strength of the Union force he retired without 
any effort to take possession of the place. Falling 
back to Marsh Creek, Pettigrew halted his men for 
the night, and then hurried on to Cashtown to 
report the presence of Union troops at Gettysburg. 

Buford, who about half -past eleven entered the 
town, and moved out on the Chambersburg pike 
as far as the McPherson farm, likewise informed 
his superior officers of Pettigrew's approach and 
retirement. From what he learned in questioning 
stragglers picked up by his scouts, he was satisfied 
that Lee's army was not far away. His own 
small force of about four thousand men he placed 
in position as the day drew to a close, and awaited 
the developments which he felt sure the next day 
would bring. 

i Notes on the Rebel Invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania, 
by Professor M. Jacobs, 1864, p. 21. 



CHAPTER II 

GETTYSBURG. THE FIRST DAY 

HAVING accomplished the concentration of his 
army at Cashtown, Lee now set his columns 
in motion toward Gettysburg. At five o'clock, on 
the morning of July ist, Hill, taking the divisions 
of Heth and Pender, was on his way to the place. 
On approaching Gettysburg, he found Gamble's and 
Devin's brigades of Buford's cavalry dismounted 
holding the ridges west of the town, their skirm- 
ishers well out in advance, it being Buford's pur- 
pose to hold the enemy in check as long as possible 
in order that Reynolds might reach the field with 
his infantry, while the Confederates were still on 
that side of Gettysburg. 

The rest of Lee's army was to follow. Long- 
street says Lee asked him to ride with him that 
morning, and that he found Lee in his usual cheer- 
ful spirits. Longstreet's column, on leaving 
Greenwood, had not proceeded far before it encoun- 
tered Johnson's division of Swell's corps, which cut 
in on his front with all of E well's reserve and supply 
trains. Lee ordered Longstreet to halt, directing 

19 



20 The Battle 

Johnson's division and trains to pass on and join 
Ewell. Not long after, the report of cannon was 
heard, apparently beyond Cashtown, and as the 
firing increased Lee left Longstreet, and hurried 
toward Gettysburg. He knew that Meade was not 
far away, and the need of his cavalry, as a means 
of securing information, he now felt more keenly 
than ever. 

Meade's orders for the day were as follows: 
The First and Eleventh Corps were to proceed to 
Gettysburg; the Second to Taneytown; the Third 
to Emmittsburg; the Fifth to Hanover; and the 
Twelfth to Two Taverns, Slocum being directed to 
take command of the Fifth Corps as well as his own. 
The Sixth Corps was left at Manchester, At the 
same time Meade ordered his engineer officers to 
select a battle-ground for the approaching conflict, 
suggesting the general line of Pipe Creek as a 
favorable position. 

But the battle between the approaching forces 
was not to be fought at Pipe Creek. Events were 
already in progress interrupting the Union com- 
mander's plans. Buford, on the morning of July 
ist, had his scouts far out on the roads westward 
and northward of Gettysburg. As early as six 
o'clock reports came to him that the enemy was 
again approaching. The disposition of his little 
force had already been made. Devin's brigade, on 






Reynolds's Statue. 



II 



Gettysburg. The First Day. 21 

the right, was in Hne between the Mummasburg 
road and the railway cut. Gamble's brigade ex- 
tended the line to the left as far as the Hagerstown 
road, his first line being along the banks of Wil- 
loughby Run. Those early morning hours to Bu- 
ford were full of anxiety. Would Reynolds arrive 
before his little cavalry command would be swept 
away by Hill's advance? The signal officer in the 
Seminary tower at length discovered the approach 
of Reynolds' columns, and, not long after, Rey- 
nolds himself, having hastened thitherward in 
advance of his troops, met Buford at ^he signal 
station and received from him a statement as to the 
situation in his front. It was now fifteen minutes 
before ten, and the strong force of the enemy was 
making things lively along the whole Union line, 
but Buford was confident that he could hold on 
until the arrival of the First Corps. Both Buford 
and Reynolds at once rode out to encourage the 
men to maintain their ground, while Reynolds sent 
word to Wads worth to hurry forward his division 
which had the advance. Wadsworth, approaching 
the town, found Reynolds ^ awaiting him, and by his 
direction, leaving the road , moved his men hurriedly 
across fields to Seminary Ridge in front of McMil- 
lan's and Dr. Schmucker's. Advancing then to the 

1 Two Days of War. A Gettysburg Narrative^ by Gen- 
eral Henry E. Tremain, p. 12. 



22 The Battle 

front, — it was now a few minutes past ten, — heat 
once brought his two brigades into Hne to reHeve 
Buford's cavalrymen. Cutler's brigade was placed 
on the right covering the Chambersburg pike, 
while Meredith's brigade — the Iron Brigade — took 
possession of McPherson's woods. 

Heth, in his advance, had ordered Archer's bri- 
gade to attack on the right of the Chambersburg 
pike. This brought him in Meredith's front. 
Davis's brigade was in position on the left of the 
pike, with Pettigrew's brigade and Brocken- 
brough's — Heth's old brigade — in reserve. 

Hardly were Cutler's men across the Chambers- 
burg pike, when they were confronted with Heth's 
advance. Wadsworth was with his men on the 
right of the road, while Reynolds gave his atten- 
tion to the left. As Doubled ay had now come upon 
the field in advance of the remaining divisions of 
the First Corps, Reynolds directed him to look out 
for the left of the line, and he remained near the 
centre. Meanwhile Archer's brigade was pushing 
forward to gain McPherson's woods, and it had 
just reached the woods when Meredith entered 
from the other side. Reynolds was sitting on his 
horse near the edge of the woods awaiting the 
result of Meredith's advance, when he was struck 
by a ball and died instantly. This was at half- 
past ten. The great loss the army had stistained in 



Gettysburg. The First Day 23 

Reynolds* death was unknown to Meredith's men. 
In an impetuous charge they broke the enemy's 
line and captured a large part of Archer's brigade, 
including Archer himself. Pressing forward, the 
men of the Iron Brigade did not slacken their 
pace in the pursuit of the enemy until they had 
crossed Willoughby Run. On the other side of the 
Chambersburg pike, Davis also suffered severely at 
the hands of Wads worth's men, and his ranks were 
considerably thinned . The two brigad es — Archer's 
and Davis's — lost more than half of their effective 
force. Davis, however, compelled Cutler to aban- 
don his first line, and fall back several hundred 
yards to a ridge connecting Oak Hill with Seminary 
Ridge. 

With Wadsworth's men on the left of the Cham- 
bersburg pike, resisting Heth's approach to Gettys- 
burg, a citizen of the town, John Burns, over 
seventy years of age, having shouldered his musket 
in the morning hours, took a place with the skirm- 
ishers of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Pennsyl- 
vania, and was wounded three times. 

''The enemy had now been felt, " says Heth in 
his report, "and found to be in heavy force in 
and around Gettysburg." In accordance with his 
instructions, therefore, he awaited the arrival of 
reinforcements, which he knew could not be far 
away. 



24 The Battle 

When Reynolds was killed, Doubled ay assumed 
the command, and strengthened his lines as the 
other divisions of the First Corps arrived upon the 
field about eleven o'clock. Howard, commanding 
the Eleventh Corps, had held a long conference with 
Reynolds the evening before, and was directed by 
him to move his corps to Gettysburg starting at 
eight o'clock in the morning. At that time the 
column was set in motion, and then Howard left 
for Gettysburg in advance of his troops. On his 
arrival at Gettysburg, he sent one of his staff offi- 
cers to find Reynolds in order to report to him at 
once in person. This was about eleven o'clock. 
Ascending to the top of a high building in the town, 
he had a view of the scene of the fighting thus 
far. While he was making this hasty survey of the 
field, word was brought to him that Reynolds had 
been wounded, and thon at half-past eleven he was 
told that Reynolds had been killed. The command 
of the left wing of the army now devolved upon 
Howard as the senior officer upon the field, and he 
turned over the command of the Eleventh Corps to 
General Schurz. 

Of Reynolds' plans, formed after his arrival at 
Gettysburg, he had of course no information. So 
good a soldier as Reynolds, however, could hardly 
have failed, even in a brief examination of the 
general features of the face of the country about 




Gettysburg's Hero, John Bums. 



Gettysburg. The First Day 25 

Gettysburg, to notice the high ground in his rear 
beyond the town. ^ Howard saw it, and at the same 
time he saw the importance of seizing and holding 
it in the conflict that had already commenced. He 
accordingly established his headquarters near the 
cemetery, on the highest point north of the Balti- 
more pike. Sending back word for the Eleventh 
Corps to hasten forward, Howard notified Meade 
of the death of Reynolds, and requested Slocum at 
Two Taverns to bring up the Twelfth Corps. 

In order to meet a request for reinforcements, 
made by Doubleday, Howard, on the arrival of the 
Eleventh Corps between twelve and one o'clock, 
sent the divisions of Schimmelpfennig and Barlow 

» General Henry E. Tremain in his Two Days of War. A 
Gettysburg Narrative, says (pp. 10-12) that he was sent by 
Sickles to Reynolds in the forenoon of July ist to report that 
Sickles was on the way to Gettysburg. He found Reynolds 
coming out of Gettysburg on the Emmittsburg road looking 
for the approach of Wadsworth. He informed Reynolds 
that Wadsworth was near. While there "where the highway 
skirts a field at the base of the old cemetery," Reynolds^ 
talking to himself as he surveyed rapidly the scene, and 
pointing toward Cemetery Hill, said:" That would be a good 
place, but I would like to save the town. " Pausing, as his 
eyes swept the horizon to the south and west and northwest 
he added, "If I form there, it might destroy the town." A 
gun sounded out on Buford's line, and the quiet voice con- 
tinued: "But I doubt if I shall have time to form the other 
side of the town." Meanwhile Wadsworth rode up. "What 
are your wishes. General Reynolds?" Reynolds pointed to 
the west and said "you had better turn off here," and Wads- 
worth led his column across the fields over Seminary Ridge 
to Buford's relief. 



26 The Battle 

to prolong Doubleday's line to the right toward 
Oak Hill, leaving Steinwehr's division and apart of 
the artillery on Cemetery Hill in reserve. At an 
early hour in the afternoon, Buford reported to 
Doubled ay the approach of Ewell from the north. 
This information was at once sent to Howard. 
Before Howard was able to seize Oak Hill as he had 
hoped, however, Ewell was in possession of that 
important position. Howard now changed the 
front of the Eleventh Corps so as to meet E well's 
assault when it should come, while Devin's cavalry 
was moved so as to cover the exposed flank of the 
Eleventh Corps. 

From Oak Hill, about half-past one,Ewell opened 
fire with his artillery. Like Heth he had been in- 
structed by Lee, should he find the Union troops in 
force at Gettysburg, not to bring on a general en- 
gagement until the rest of the army had reached 
the place. As he now came upon the field, he at 
once found himself involved in a battle already 
begun. The situation, as he viewed it, seemed to 
give promise of success, and he decided to join Hill 
in the endeavor to achieve it. Ewell 's attack was 
spirited and well directed. Later Early's division 
came up on the Heidlersburg road, opened a heavy 
artillery fire, and later he advanced his infantry 
under Gordon. The position of the Eleventh Corps 
afforded no hope of effective service in the face of 



Gettysburg. The First Day 27 

the strong force which the Confederates now had 
in its front and on its flank. In fact, in all parts 
of the field, as the afternoon wore away, the 
pressure of the Confederate advance was increas- 
ingly great. The exposed line of the Eleventh 
Corps was gradually driven back. Barlow, one 
of Schurz's division commanders, was severely 
wounded. The First Corps, which had made a 
strong, determined resistance in the face of Hill's 
onslaughts, was also compelled to yield one posi- 
tion after another as the day wore away. From all 
parts of the field earnest requests came to Howard 
for reinforcements, and both Slocum and Sickles 
were urged to hasten forward their corps in order 
that these calls might be answered. About four 
o'clock Howard sent word to Doubleday to retire 
to Cemetery Hill if he could not maintain his 
position longer ; and a few minutes later, seeing the 
necessity of withdrawing all the troops on the 
other side of the town at once, he ordered the First 
and Eleventh corps to fall back beyond the town, 
and take position on the high ground in and about 
the cemetery, the First Corps on the left of the 
Baltimore pike and the Eleventh on the right, 
while Steinwehr's division was so placed as to pre- 
vent the enemy from attempting to follow. There 
was some confusion as the two commands came 
through the streets of the town. At half-past 



28 The Battle 

four the two corps had taken this new position, and 
Ewell had possession of the town. 

About this time Hancock reached Gettysburg. 
He had come from Meade, who was at Taney town, 
and Meade had given to him a verbal order placing 
all the troops at Gettysburg under his command. 
Howard was Hancock's senior in rank, and the 
announcement made by Hancock was very natur- 
ally not a pleasing one to Howard. In his official 
report of his connection with the battle, however, 
Howard says: "We agreed at once that there was 
no time for talking, and that General Hancock 
should further arrange the troops and place the 
batteries upon the Baltimore pike, while I should 
take the right of the same. '* 

Both Howard and Hancock have been credited 
with the selection of the position taken by the 
Union forces at the close of the first day's fighting 
at Gettysburg. The fact, however, that Howard in 
the forenoon, on assuming the command of the 
left wing of the army after the death of Reynolds, 
made Cemetery Hill his headquarters, ordered 
Stein wehr's division to remain at this point on the 
arrival of the Eleventh Corps, and there rallied his 
defeated troops as they fell back through the town 
— all before Hancock's arrival at Gettysburg — 
would seem to establish the claim in Howard's be- 
half; and doubtless it was because of these facts 



Gettysburg. The First Day 29 

that Congress coupled Howard's name with 
Meade's in the vote of thanks tendered not long 
after the battle to these two officers " for the skill 
and heroic valor" which brought the battle at 
Gettysburg to a successful issue. 

In the arrangement of the Union forces on the 
high ground back of the town, Wads worth's division 
was sent to Gulp's Hill, while the cavalry extended 
the infantry line to the left, the two bodies not fail- 
ing to make an impression upon Early in his search 
for an opportunity to force the Union army out of 
its favorable position. 

Lee came upon the field in season to witness the 
closing operations of the day. Longstreet, on his 
arrival not long after, — having preceded his corps 
in his desire to be at the front, — says that after he 
had looked at the Union position, he remarked to 
Lee, " We could not call the enemy to position bet- 
ter suited to our plans. All we have to do is to file 
around his left, and secure good ground between 
him and his capital." Recalling what Lee 
had conceded before the campaign commenced, 
as Longstreet supposed, namely that "the 
policy of the campaign should be one of de- 
fensive tactics," Longstreet thought what he 
had said would meet with Lee's approval. 
He was not a little surprised, therefore, when 
the general with considerable emphasis replied, 



30 The Battle 

"If he is there to-morrow I will attack 
him."i 

It has been thought by some that Lee would 
have adopted a wiser course if he had made his at- 
tack upon the Union lines at once, without giving 
his opponents opportunity to concentrate and 
make the position they had taken defensible, inas- 
much as his force largely outnumbered the part 
of Meade's army then present. It should be 
remembered, however, that Lee did not know this, 
while he could see at a glance the strong natural 
features of the position, suggesting delay until 
his own forces were weU in hand. 

Of course this delay was of incalculable benefit to 
the Union army. The troops lost no time in mak- 
ing themselves as secure as the means at their com- 
mand permitted. Before morning they were quite 
well established in their new lines, and awaited 
only the arrival of the other corps of the Army 
of the Potomac in order to be ready for another 
close grapple with the Army of Northern Virginia. 

Hancock, in his report, says that soon after his 
arrival at Gettysburg, he made known to Meade the 
situation as he found it, "informing him that the 
position at Gettysburg was a very strong one, hav- 
ing for its disadvantage that it might be easily 
turned, and leaving to him the responsibility 
1 From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 358. 



Gettysburg. The First Day 31 

whether the battle should be fought at Gettysburg, 
or at a place first selected by him, " meaning Pipe 
Creek. About dark Hancock started for Meade's 
headquarters at Taney town, fourteen miles distant. 
On his arrival, however, he found that Meade had 
already given orders for the corps in his rear to ad- 
vance at once to Gettysburg, and was about to pro- 
ceed there in person. Meade had made up his 
mind to accept Lee's challenge. In an order to 
Sedgwick, directing him to bring up his command 
by a forced march, he said: ''A general battle 
seems to be impending to-morrow at Gettysburg. 
. . . We shall probably be largely outnum- 
bered without your presence. " All the corps of the 
Army of the Potomac not on the field at Gettysburg 
were ordered to hasten thither. Meade broke up 
his headquarters at Taney town at ten p. m. 

In a despatch to General Halleck, dated at six p.m. 
July ist, Meade reported the situation as follows: 
"The First and Eleventh corps have been engaged 
all day. The Twelfth, Third, and Fifth have been 
moving up, and all, I hope, by this time are on the 
field. This leaves only the Sixth, which will move 
up to-night. . . . General Reynolds was killed 
this morning early in the action. I immediately 
sent up General Hancock to assume command. 
A. P. Hill and Ewell are certainly concentrating. 
Longstreet's whereabouts I do not know. If he 



32 The Battle 

is not up to-morrow, I hope with the force I have 
concentrated to defeat Hill and Ewell. At any 
rate, I see no other course than to hazard a general 
battle. Circumstances during the night may alter 
this decision, of which I will try to advise you. I 
have telegraphed Couch that if he can threaten 
Swell's rear from Harrisburg without endangering 
himself, to do so. "^ As to the actual condition of 
things in both armies at the time when this des- 
patch was written. General Meade certainly had a 
very inadequate view. The difficulty of obtaining 
correct information was greater for General Lee, 

1 Professor M. Jacobs, connected with Pennsylvania Col- 
lege at Gettysburg, and in Gettysburg at the time of the 
battle, in his Notes on the Rebel Invasion of Maryland and 
Pennsylvania and the Battle of Gettysburg, Philadelphia, 1864, 
says (p. 28): "That portion of Rodes' division which lay 
down before our dwelling for the night was greatly elated 
with the results of the first day's battle. And the same may 
be said of the whole Rebel army. They were anxious to 
engage in conversation — to communicate their views and 
feelings, and to elicit ours. They were boastful of themselves, 
of their cause, and of the skill of their officers; and were 
anxious to tell us of the unskilful manner in which some of 
our officers had conducted the fight which had just closed. 
When informed that General Archer and fifteen hundred of 
his men had been captured, they said, 'To-morrow we will 
take all these back again: and having already taken five 
thousand (!) prisoners of you to-day, we will take the balance 
of your men to-morrow.' . . . Their confidence knew no 
bounds; they felt assured that they should be able, with 
perfect ease, to cut up our army in detail, — fatigued as it 
was by long marches and yet scattered, for only two corps 
had as yet arrived. Resting under this impression, they lay 
down joyfully on the night of the first day. " 



Gettysburg. The First Day 33 

however, than it was for General Meade, and the 
former was moving more blindly even than the 
latter. 



CHAPTER III 

GETTYSBURG. THE SECOND DAY 

J\ yiEADE reached Gettysburg at one a.m., July 
^ ^ ^ 2d, and as soon as it was light he made an 
inspection of his lines. In this inspection he found 
the Eleventh Corps occupying Cemetery Hill. 
Schurz's division was across the Baltimore pike, 
with Stein wehr's on the left and Am.es 's on the 
right and rear. Wadsworth, of the First Corps, 
was on Ames's right. Robinson was on the left of 
vSteinwehr, his line extending to Ziegler's Grove. 
As other troops came up in the morning they were 
assigned places in the line as follows : the Twelfth 
Corps at Gulp's Hill on Wads worth's right; the 
Second Corps along Cemetery Ridge; Hays and 
Gibbon's divisions, from Ziegler's Grove to the 
clump of trees; Caldwell's to the short ridge to its 
left and rear. The Third Corps was directed to 
extend Hancock's line, relieving Geary's division 
which during the night had held the extreme left 
of the line as far as Little Round Top. The Fifth 
Corps was placed in reserve in a central position 
near the Rock Creek crossing of the Baltimore 

34 




o 
H 

o 






I 



Gettysburg. The Second Day 35 

Pike. The Sixth Corps, on its way from Manches- 
ter, did not reach the battle-ground until two 
P.M. The Fifth Corps was then moved to the 
extreme left of the Union line. 

An early attack by Lee before Meade's concen- 
tration had taken place — the Second Corps and 
Sykes with two divisions of the Fifth Corps arrived 
on the field at seven a.m. also the remaining part of 
the Third Corps — was happily delayed. Lee, how- 
ever, had not accepted Longstreet's suggestion to 
file around the Union left, and place himself be- 
tween Meade's army and Washington. At an 
early hour — Longstreet was at Lee's headquarters 
w^hile the stars were shining,^ he says — Lee was 
busy with plans having reference to an attack on 
the Union lines. In his report of the battle, the 
Confederate commander says : *' Encouraged by the 
successful issue of the engagement of the first day, 
and in view of the valuable results that w^ould come 
from the defeat of the army of General Meade, 
it was thought advisable to renew the at- 
tack. " The arrival of the remainder of E well's 
and Hill's commands, and tw^o of Longstreet's 



1 The day that followed was a delightful summer day. 
Professor Jacobs says of it: "The morning was pleasant, the 
air was calm, the sun shone mildly through a smoky atmos- 
phere, and the whole outer world was quiet and peaceful — 
there was nothing to foretoken the sanguinary struggle that 
was to close the day." Notes, etc., p. 32. 



36 ' The Battle 

divisions, gave Lee a strong, enthusiastic body of 
soldiery. 

Meade had foreseen that Lee would be likely to 
renew the battle, and he gave instructions for an 
examination of the roads that would enable him 
to fall back on the proposed Pipe Creek line, if such 
a movement should be necessary — instructions 
which his chief -of-staff. General Butterfield, con- 
sidered to have reference to a withdrawal of the 
army from Gettysburg without a battle at that 
place, a reference which Meade afterward denied. 
It is probable that Butterfield misunderstood these 
instructions. Certainly if Meade had in mind 
anything more than a possibility of a necessity 
for a withdrawal, he soon came to see that the 
battle must be fought then and there. Indeed 
with the arrival of the remaining portions of his 
army, General Meade was in a favorable position 
in which to await the development of Lee's plans. 

In extending the Union line to the left. Sickles 
requested Meade's assistance in determining the 
position he should take. The ground assigned to 
him south of the Weikert house was low, and was 
commanded by the higher ground along the 
Emmittsburg road. In fact, it was this higher 
ground, extending to the Peach Orchard, which 
seemed to him the line to occupy. General Hunt, 
chief-of-artillery, examined the proposed line at 





" %■ " 



vt^ilS 



-W ^ " ^-x '» 



Gettysburg. The Second Day 37 

the request of General Meade. He thought it had 
its disadvantages, especially because of the right 
angle in the line at the Peach Orchard ; and when 
Sickles asked if he should move his corps forward 
to this line, Hunt, who says that tactically it 
was better than the short line to the Round Tops 
provided it were strongly occupied, replied to this 
request, " Not on my authority. I will report to 
General Meade for his instructions." Sickles 
made his dispositions along the line he had indi- 
cated, his left from the Peach Orchard being 
refused and running back to the Devil's Den; 
while Hunt, reporting to General Meade that he 
could not advise the occupation of the proposed 
line, suggested that Meade should examine the posi- 
tion for himself. A little later, seeing Meade and 
Sickles in conversation, Hunt supposed the latter 
had given his consent to the Peach Orchard line, 
and ordered up some of the reserve artillery ; he also 
gave the general officers authority to call for it. 
While objecting to Sickles 's line, Meade saw that it 
was too late to change it.^ His own account of the 
position, in his report of the battle, is as follows: 

» Longstreet, who confronted Sickles at the Peach Orchard, 
was one of those who beHeved that Sickles was right in placing 
his corps as he did. In a letter to Sickles written September 
19, 1902, he said: "I believe it is now conceded that the 
advanced position at the Peach Orchard, taken by your 
corps and under your orders, saved that battle-field to the 
Union cause. " 



38 The Battle 

" About three p.m., I rode out to the extreme left to 
await the arrival of the Fifth Corps and to post it, 
when I found that Maj.-Gen. Sickles, commanding 
the Third Corps, not fully apprehending the in- 
structions in regard to the position to be occupied, 
had advanced, or rather was in the act of advan- 
cing, his corps some half a mile or three fourths of a 
mile in front of the line of the Second Corps, on the 
prolongation of which it was designed his corps 
should rest. Having found Maj.-Gen. Sickles, I was 
explaining to him that he was too far in advance, 
and discussing with him the propriety of withdraw- 
ing, when the enemy opened on him with several 
batteries in his front and on his flank, and immedi- 
ately brought forward columns of infantry and 
made a most vigorous assault. The Third Corps 
sustained the shock most heroically. "^ 

Lee's plan for July 2d, at Gettysburg, included a 

» In his testimony before the Joint Committee on the 
Conduct of the War in 1864, Sickles said: "General Meade 

. . remarked to me that my line was too extended, and 
expressed his doubts as to my being able to hold so extended 
a line, in which I coincided in the main — that is to say, I 
replied that I could not with one corps hold so extended a 
line against the rebel army; but that, if supported, the line 
could be held; and in my judgment, it was a strong line, and 
the best one. I stated, however, that if he disapproved of 
it, it was not yet too late to take any position he might indi- 
cate. He said, 'No'; that it would be better to hold that line, 
and he would send up the Fifth Corps to support me. I 
expressed my belief in my ability to hold that line until 
supports could arrive. '.' 




^ 



II 



^^ 



Gettysburg. The Second Day 39 

crushing blow on his right or left. Both extremi- 
ties of his line were visited early in the day with the 
decision to make the assault from the right. The 
battle was to be opened by Longstreet with his 
fresh, heavy columns. Hill, in the centre, was to 
co-operate, and so also was Ewell on hearing Long- 
street's guns. The point of attack selected by Lee 
w^as Sickles 's position at the Peach Orchard. If 
the Union forces could be driven from that place, 
Lee believed that the vantage ground thus gained 
could be successfully used in an effort to reach the 
crest of the ridge beyond. 

It is claimed by Long and other Confederate 
officers that Lee expected Longstreet to attack 
early in the morning of the 2d, and that he gave 
orders to that effect. But Longstreet says it was 
eleven o'clock in the forenoon when the orders were 
received. Lee's plan was for Longstreet to follow 
the direction of the Emmittsburg road, having the 
left of his line on the road, and for Hill to join in 
the movement as the Confederates pressed forward 
toward Cemetery Ridge. Some difficulty was ex- 
perienced by Longstreet in getting his men into 
position for the attack so as not to be observed by 
the Union signal officers on Round Top ; and it was 
not until half -past three in the afternoon, according 
to Longstreet himself, that the order for the ad- 
vance was given. The general statement is that 



40 The Battle 

the advance was not begun until four o'clock. At 
that hour valuable time for the Confederates had 
certainly been lost. As certainly valuable time 
for the Union forces had been gained. The rest 
of Meade's army had now reached the field. 

In his report of the battle, Lee says: "After a 
severe struggle Longstreet succeeded in getting 
possession of and holding the desired ground. '* It 
was a severe struggle. Bimey's division of the 
Third Corps bore the brunt of Longstreet 's attack. 
For two hours the conflict was a desperate one on 
both sides. The Confederates made the attack 
covered by a cloud of skirmishers. Again and 
again Bimey sent for reinforcements. His lines 
swayed to and fro while the battle raged, and his 
regiments were moved constantly on the double 
quick from one part of the line to another, in order 
to meet the furious onslaughts of the enemy. Bir- 
ney held the Peach Orchard until nearly dusk, 
when he fell back to the next ridge. Sickles wa*? 
severely wounded about six o'clock — one of his 
legs was shot away — and Bimey succeeded to the 
command of the corps. 

North of the Peach Orchard, Humphrey's divi- 
sion of the Second Corps held the line along the Em- 
mittsburg road. Here about four o'clock, he was 
attacked by McLaws, and when at length the sali- 
ent was broken the whole attention of the enemy at 



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Gettysburg. The Second Day 41 

this point being directed to him, he was compelled 
to fall back to the higher ground on the ridge. 
This was done in good order, but Humphrey's losses 
were heavy. "The fortune of war," he says 
''rarely places troops under more trying circum- 
stances than those in which my division found 
itself on this day. " 

When Longstreet commenced his attack, the 
right of his line overlapped Sickles 's front by two 
brigades, and these moved round so as to threaten 
Little Round Top. While the conflict was raging, 
Meade sent General Warren to the left for an 
examination of the ground. Reaching Little 
Round Top, he found it occupied as a Union signal 
station. There were no troops there. From that 
rocky hilltop, looking out over the field which the 
summit disclosed, Warren saw that the long line 
of woods on the west side of the Emmittsburg road 
furnished an opportunity for the enemy to form 
his lines out of sight. Soon he saw more — the glis- 
tening of gun-barrels and bayonets, marking a line 
of battle already formed and far outflanking the 
position of any of Meade's men. At once Warren 
sent a written request to General Meade to send 
at least a division to that point, which evidently 
was the key to the position. While Warren was 
there alone with the signal officer, musket-balls 
began to whistle about them, and then a whole line 



42 The Battle 

of the enemy was seen advancing toward the hill. 
Seeing troops going out on the Peach Orchard road, 
Warren rode down the hill and found that the 
troops were those of his old brigade now com- 
manded by Weed, who had already passed. Warren 
says: "I took the responsibility to detach Colonel 
O'Rorke, the head of whose regiment I struck, who, 
on hearing my few words of explanation about the 
position, moved at once to the hilltop. About 
this time First Lieutenant Charles E. Hazlett, of 
the Fifth Artillery, with his battery of rifled cannon 
arrived. He comprehended the situation instantly 
and planted a gun on the summit of the hill. . . . 
He stayed there until he was killed. I was wound- 
ed with a musket-ball while talking with Lieuten- 
ant Hazlett on the hill, but not seriously; and, 
seeing the position saved while the whole line to the 
right and front of us was yielding and melting away 
under the enemy's fire and advance, I left the hill 
to rejoin General Meade near the centre of the 
field, where a new crisis was at hand. " ^ Later, to 
this position came the rest of Weed's brigade and 
the brigade of Strong Vincent, and rolled back the 
onrushing columns which Longstreet was hurling 
against that rocky height. Weed was killed and 
Vincent was mortally wounded. It was on the 
left of the line, at this time, that the Twentieth 
'^Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iii. , p 307. 



Gettysburg. The Second Day 43 

Maine, under Colonel J. L. Chamberlain, did such 
heroic service, repulsing the enemy and taking a 
large number of prisoners. 

Longstreet claimed that in his attack on the left 
of the Union line he did not receive the help he 
expected from Hill, and especially from Ewell. 
His statement is this: "While Meade's lines were 
gj owing, my men were dropping ; we had no others 
to call to their aid, and the weight against us was 
too heavy to carry. The extreme left of our line 
was only about a mile from us across the enemy's 
concentric position, which brought us within 
hearing of the battle, if engaged, and near enough 
to feel its swell, but nothing was heard or felt but 
the clear ring of the enemy's fresh metal as he 
came against us. No other part of our army had 
been engaged. " 

It should be said, however, that Hill supported 
Longstreet's advance with some of his right brig- 
ades. Ewell was late in throwing in his men. Early 
and Rocles were directed to attack Cemetery Hill, 
while Johnson was to give his attention to Culp's 
Hill. Early made a spirited attack, but unsup- 
ported by Rodes he was driven back with great loss ; 
Johnson, however, succeeded in seizing a portion 
of the Union line on Culp's Plill, a part of tho 
Twelfth Corps (the First Division and Lockwood 's 
brigade, also two brigades of Geary's division) 



44 The Battle 

having been withdrawn by Meade to reinforce his 
imperilled left and centre late in the day. The 
importance of the advantage gained in this move- 
ment, however, seems not to have been discovered 
by Ewell. At least he failed to avail himself of an 
opportunity to press his men forward so as to 
take possession of the Baltimore Pike, only a short 
distance away. Gregg's cavalry did efficient ser- 
vice in checking Johnson's victorious advance. 

After the fighting of the day was over, General 
Meade summoned the corps commanders to his 
headquarters in council, in the little front room 
of the Leister house. There were present, besides 
the commanding general, Newton (who had been 
placed in command of the First Corps), Hancock, 
Bimey, Sykes, Sedgwick, Howard, and Slocum, 
also Butterfield, chief-of -staff, Warren, chief-of-' 
engineers, Williams, commanding the Twelfth 
Corps, and Gibbon of the Second. General Gibbon, 
in an account of the council, says that Newton ex- 
pressed the opinion that ''this was no place to 
fight a battle in." But the rest of the generals 
thought otherwise; and it was finally decided to 
correct the line then held, and await further at- 
tack. Howard said, "Wait attack until 4 p.m. on 
the 3d." Then if Lee did not attack, he advised 
attacking Lee. Hancock said that he would have 
the army remain and not attack unless communi- 



Gettysburg. The Second Day 45 

cations were cut. Sedgwick said that the army 
should await attack at least one day. Slocum 
would stay and fight it out at Gettysburg. Double- 
day, in his account of the battle, says Meade was 
displeased with the result of the council. " Have 
it your own way, gentlemen," he said roughly, 
"but Gettysburg is no place to fight a battle in. "^ 

Longstreet's comment on the results of the day 
is this : " Our success of the first day had led us into 
battle on the second, and the battle on the second 
was to lead us into the terrible and hopeless slaught- 
er on the third.'* Lee, referring to the successes of 
July 2d at Gettysburg, says," These partial successes 
determined me to continue the assault next day." 

The fighting of the day was over, but prepara- 
tions for the renewal of the contest were at once 
begun on both the Union and Confederate lines. 
Meade strengthened his right. Big Round Top was 
made secure, and his whole line received careful 
attention. On the part of Lee's army, also, there 
^ was preparation for a more desperate struggle on the 
morrow. To its commander nothing seemed to 
promise greater hope of success than a renewal of 
the movement which he made on the 2d, and 
which he expected would pierce the Union line 
and roll it up in the triumphant advance of his 
enthusiastic battalions. 

» Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, p. 184. 



CHAPTER IV 

GETTYSBURG. THE THIRD DAY 

JULY 3d found the Union army well posted 
behind hastily constructed defences, await- 
ing the movements of the enemy in accordance 
with the decision of the Council of War. But 
Meade knew how much his opponents had at 
stake, and he was by no means confident as to the 
issue. At seven a.m. he sent a despatch to General 
French at Frederick, Md., in which he said that if 
the result of the operations of the day should cause 
Lee to fall back toward the Potomac, he was to 
occupy Harper's Ferry and annoy and harass 
him in his retreat. But he added : ** If the result 
of the day's operations should be our dis- 
comfiture and withdrawal, you are to look to 
Washington, and throw your force there for its 
protection. You will be prepared for either of 
these contingencies should they arise." 

When the men of the Twelfth Corps, who had 
been detached by Meade on the afternoon of the 
2d to reinforce his imperilled left, returned about 

midnight to take their former position, they found 

46 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 47 

Johnson's division of Ewell's corps in possession. 
It was this state of things on his left that gave 
Meade anxiety ; and he made preparations for dis- 
possessing Johnson of the foothold he had ob- 
tained . During the night batteries were posted in 
favorable positions for aiding in the proposed 
movement, and the troops to make the attack 
were selected. But Ewell, also, made preparations 
which he hoped would enable him to maintain the 
lodgment he had secured . In the morning, accord- 
ingly, there was a sharp, severe struggle for the 
supremacy at that part of the line. Geary and 
Ruger were instructed to attack at daylight. In 
the struggle that followed both parties were per- 
sistent, but Ewell was unable to hold the ground 
he had secured . 

At length, about eleven o'clock, finding that his 
men could not withstand the continued assaults 
of the Union forces, and discovering that a way of 
retreat might be cut off by troops on his flank, 
Ewell reluctantly abandoned the position, and 
fell back to Rock Creek, leaving the Union army 
in a strong, defensive line extending to the Round 
Tops. 

Concerning his arrangements for the day, Lee, 
in his official report of the battle, says : '' The gen- 
eral plan was unchanged. Longstreet, reinforced 
by Pickett's three brigades, which arrived near 



48 The Battle 

the battle-field during the afternoon of the 2d, 
was ordered to attack the next morning." Long- 
street, however, makes this comment on this part 
of Lee's report: "This is disingenuous. He did 
not give or send me orders for the morning of the 
third day, nor did he reinforce me by Pickett's 
brigades for morning attack." ^ In fact, Long- 
street had been busy during the night in the en- 
deavor, by means of scouting parties, to find a 
favorable opportunity for striking a blow on 
Meade's left, and was about to move his command 
for this purpose at sunrise when General Lee rode 
up to his headquarters with orders for the day, 
which included a charge upon Meade's left centre 
by troops from McLaws' and Hood's divisions of 
Longstreet's corps, reinforced by Pickett's divi- 
sion. Longstreet had serious objection to such a 
movement. *'I thought," he says, ''that it would 
not do; that the point had been fully tested the 
day before, by more men, when all were fresh; 
that the enemy was there looking for us, as we 
heard him during the night putting up his defences ; 
that the divisions of McLaws and Hood were hold- 
ing a mile along the right of my line against twenty 
thousand men, who would follow their with- 
drawal, strike the flank of the assaulting column, 
crush it, and get on our rear towards the Potomac 
» From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 385. 



11 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 49 

River ; that thirty thousand men was the minimum 
force necessary for the work ; that even such force 
would need close co-operation on other parts of 
the line ; that the column as he proposed to organ- 
ize it would have only about thirteen thousand 
men (the divisions having lost a third of their 
number the day before) ; that the column would 
have to march a mile under concentrating battery 
fire, and a thousand yards under long range mus- 
ketry; that the conditions were different from 
those in the days of Napoleon, when field batteries 
had a range of six hundred yards and musketry 
about sixty yards." ^ 

Lee thought Longstreet overestimated the dis- 
tance. He said it was not more than fourteen 
hundred yards. He consented, however, to Long- 
street's view that the divisions of McLaws and 
Hood should remain on the defensive line, and 
said he would reinforce by divisions of the Third 
Corps and Pickett's brigades. He also gave direc- 
tions with reference to the point to which the at- 
tack should be directed. When Longstreet returned 
to the suggestion that the force to be brought 
against the Union position was too small, Lee, Long- 
street says, was ** impatient of listening, and tired 
of talking, and nothing was left but to proceed. "^ 

1 From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 386. 
^Ibid., pp. 386, 387, 



50 • ' The Battle 

Lee's principal reliance, in the attack, was upon 
Pickett's division of Longstreet's corps, composed 
of Virginia troops. Up to this time it had not been 
in action at Gettysburg. With it Lee proposed to 
use not only troops from the Third Corps, but also 
the cavalry under Stuart, which had reached the 
vicinity of Gettysburg on the preceding day, tak- 
ing position on the York and Harrisburg roads. 
Stuart was to attack the Union line in the rear 
simultaneously with Pickett's assault in front — 
a large demand upon weary troopers as events 
proved. 

The forenoon was spent in making preparations 
for the charge. This is Lee's own statement in 
his report of the battle: ''The morning was occu- 
pied in necessary preparations." Longstreet calls 
attention to the fact that two thirds of the troops 
to be engaged in the charge belonged to other 
commands than his own, and that he had no con- 
trol of them until they reached him. 

• Preparatory to this new attack upon the Union 
lines, the Confederate artillery was massed in 
favorable positions for effective service. In all, one 
hundred and thirty-eight guns were made ready to 
hurl a destructive fire into Meade's ranks. Of these 
seventy-five guns belonged to the First Corps. 
A. P. Hill had sixty-three guns on Seminary Ridge. 
In the middle of the day, aside from these prepara- 



Gettysburg. The Third Day' 51 

tions, all was quiet for the most part along the 
lines of both armies. It was not possible for 
Meade to mass his artillery to the same extent as 
Lee. On account of his contracted lines only 
seventy-seven guns were placed in position facing 
Lee's one hundred and thirty-eight, and they were 
.in plain view of the enemy. But he had a large 
artillery reserve which could be brought into use. 

At one o'clock in the afternoon two Confederate 
guns announced the opening of the artillery duel 
which was to precede the infantry charge. The 
chiefs -of -artillery and the battery commanders on 
the Union side had been instructed by Hunt to 
withhold their fire fifteen or twenty minutes after 
the Confederate guns opened ; then to concentrate 
their aim with all possible accuracy on those bat- 
teries that were found to be most destructive. 
But they were to fire leisurely, so as not to ex- 
haust their ammunition. Hunt had just given this 
order when the Confederate signal guns were fired, 
and Lee's artillery opened on the Union lines. 

The scene from those lines was one of appalling 
grandeur. Hunt, in his description of it, says: 
'* All their batteries were soon covered with smoke, 
through which the flashes were incessant; whilst 
the air seemed filled with shells, whose sharp ex- 
plosions, with the hurtling of their fragments, 
formed a running accompaniment to the deep 



52 The Battle 

roar of the guns."^ The larger number of cannon 
on the Confederate side were expected to do de- 
structive work on the shorter line held by Meade , 
but their missiles passed over and beyond the 
ridge occupied by the Union troops, making the 
rear more dangerous than the front. Longstreet 
says that while the Confederates had the benefit 
of the converging fire upon Meade's massed force, 
yet the superior metal of the Union batteries neu- 
tralized the advantage of the position. For an 
hour and a half nearly, this terrific bombardment 
was continued. Then, finding his ammunition 
running low, Hunt sought Meade to obtain per- 
mission to cease firing in order to cool his guns and 
to save ammunition for use in the effort to repulse 
the charge which was sure to follow. Not finding 
Meade, but presenting the matter to Howard who 
concurred in his view, Hunt gave the order to 
cease firing. 

From this cessation of firing on the part of the 
Union guns, the inference was drawn within the 
Confederate lines that Meade's artillery had been 
silenced, — a mistake that was soon recognized. 
Hunt's crippled batteries were quickly replaced, 
all available positions for artillery being occupied. 

The Confederate infantry line, awaiting the or- 
der to advance, consisted of Pickett's division, 

1 Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iii., p. 372. 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 53 

with Kemper's and Gamett's brigades in front, 
and Armistead's brigade in support. Wilcox's 
brigade of Hill's corps in echelon guarded Pickett's 
right, while Pettigrew's division did the same ser- 
vice on Pickett's left, supported by the brigades of 
Scales and Lane commanded by Trimble,^ When 
Pickett came to Longstreet and placed in his 
hands a slip of paper on which Alexander, Long- 
street's chief -of -artillery, had called for an immedi- 
ate advance on the part of the Confederate 
infantry line, and added, "General, shall I ad- 
vance?" Longstreet says the effort to speak the 
order — an order whose direful consequences he 
clearly foresaw — wholly failed upon his lips, and 
he indicated his assent only by an affirmative bow. 
Pickett ''accepted the duty with seeming confi- 
dence of success, leaped on his horse, and rode 
gaily to his command." ^ 

Pickett's lines were soon in motion. The smoke 
of Lee's guns no longer overhung the field. All 
was in view from the Union position as the Con- 
federates emerged from the cover where they had 
awaited the fateful hour. Pickett had explained to 



» To call tke charge "Pickett's charge" is to ignore the 
services performed by other Confederate organizations which 
had a part in this famous movement upon the Union lines; 
but the popular designation is the one in common use, and 
the only one that would be generally recognized. 

2 Longstreet's From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 392. 



54 The Battle 

his men the nature of the work demanded of them, 
and as they moved solidly, resolutely down the 
slope into the open fields through which they were 
to pass on their way to the Union lines, all that the 
movement meant to the Confederate cause was 
clearly understood. The sight was one which no 
beholder could ever forget. It elicited, as the 
Comte de Paris says, "a cry of admiration both 
from enemies and friends." Pickett's division 
comprised nearly five thousand men ; but this was 
only a small part of the force that had been 
placed under Longstreet's command in this 
assault. The supporting columns numbered about 
nine thousand men. The direction of the column, 
as given by Lee, was toward a clump of trees on the 
crest of the ridge extending from Cemetery Hill 
toward Little Round Top. This was the line held 
by the Second Corps under Hancock. Upon Gib- 
bon's division of that corps the brunt of the assault 
was to fall. Meade's artillery opened on the ad- 
vancing columns almost as soon as they were in 
view. At first solid shot was used , then shell, while 
canister was reserved for the closer approach. 
Any less determined foe would have quailed under 
the galling fire. But, in the advance, the lines 
were kept closed up, and a solid front was quite 
well maintained until the Emmittsburg road was 
reached. As the separate brigade lines now swept 



i 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 55 

across the road, they lost their formation, and 
carried with them the skirmish Hne as they urged 
their way onward. Pettigrew's command with its 
supports, on Pickett's left, had been put in motion 
with the Virginians, but earlier in the conflict they 
had suffered severely, and naturally did not press 
forward with the same ardor as Pickett's men who 
had not before been in action at Gettysburg. 

Wilcox's brigade, on Pickett's right, advanced 
in the same general direction for awhile, but when 
at length Pickett changed his course, moving ob- 
liquely, Wilcox advanced still straight to the 
front, leaving Pickett's flank uncovered as the 
interval between them increased. 

Behind a low stone wall the men of Gibbon's 
division of the Second Corps awaited the approach 
of the Confederates until they were about three 
hundred yards distant, and then opened an effec- 
tive fire. It was not now a line of battle that was 
approaching, but a confused mass into which 
deadly volleys of canister were hurled by the Union 
artillery. Pettigrew's division was overwhelmed. 
Those who could made their way back, while two 
thousand prisoners and fifteen stands of colors fell 
into Meade's hands. 

Pickett's men, however, or rather those of his 
command still fronting the Union lines, continued 
resolutely and unwaveringly to move up the 



56 The Battle 

slope, their numbers continually growing less.' 
Gamett fell when about one hundred yards from 
the Union lines. Awaiting the favorable oppor- 
tunity, down upon Pickett's flank came Stannard 
with his Vermont brigade, delivering a fire more 
demoralizing than that from the froi t. The strug- 
gle now was soon at close quarters, as that con- 
fused mass of Confederates pushed its way over 
the low stone wall, pierced the Union line, but was 
unable to maintain its foothold. Armistead, lead- 
ing about one hxmdred of his men — forty-two of 
the number were slain — fell inside of the Union 
defences, by the side of one of the guns upon 
which he had laid his hand ; but it was defeat, not 
victory. Pickett saw that it was useless to remain 
on the ridge which he had reached, and succeeded, 
with a part of his force, in reaching the Confed- 
erate lines. Of his entire division men enough only 
were left to make a full-sized regiment. The rest 
were lying upon the fields over which they had 
passed, and were dead or woimded, or they were 
prisoners within the Union lines. " Out of eighteen 
field-officers and four generals in the division, 
Pickett and one lieutenant-colonel alone remain 
unharmed." ^ 

» Lt.-Col. Fremantle, of the British army, who was with 
the Confederates as a guest, has a vivid picture of the battle 
in his Three Months in the Southern States, pubHshed in 1864. 
He had sought a commanding position in which he could see 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 57 

Longstreet says Lee came up as the remnants 
of the attacking forces found their way back. He 
spoke to them encouraging words, requesting them 
to re-form their ranks, adding, "It was all my 
fault ; get together, and let us do the best we can 
toward saving that which is left us." ^ 

Within the Union lines the joy of victory was 
unbounded. But all might not have gone as well 
with the Union army had Stuart, with his cavalry, 
succeeded, as Lee had planned, in reaching Meade's 
rear at the time of the charge made from Long- 

the battle without exposure to the tremendous fire that 
characterized it; but finally concluded to make his way to 
General Longstreet. He met wounded men in large numbers. 
"They were still under a heavy fire,; the shells were contin- 
ually bringing down great limfcs of trees, and carrying further 
destruction amongst this melancholy procession. I saw all 
this in much less time than it takes to write it, and although 
astonished to meet such vast numbers of wounded, I had not 
seen enough to give me any idea of the real extent of the 
mischief." In illustrating this last statement he adds: 
"When I got close up to General Longstreet, I saw one of his 
regiments advancing through the woods in good order; so, 
thinking I was just in time to see the attack, I remarked to 
the General that 'I would n't have missed this for anything.' 
Longstreet was seated at the top of a snake fence at the edge 
of the wood, and looking perfectly calm and imperturbed. 
He replied, laughing, ' you would n't! I would like to have 
missed it very much; we 've attacked and been repulsed; 
look there!" Lt.-Col. Fremantle looked in the direction 
indicated and saw the fields "covered with Confederates 
slowly and sulkily returning." A little later he met General 
Lee. "This has been a sad day for us, Colonel," he said "a 
sad day; but we can't expect always to gain victories." 

» Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iii., p. 347. 



58 The Battle 

street's front. In the morning of July 3d, — 
Stuart reached the vicinity of Gettysburg only 
the day before, — the cavalry had taken position 
on the Confederate left with the purpose of aiding 
in the proposed assault by Pickett and the other 
forces under Longstreet's orders. Stuart's posi- 
tion was a most favorable one for such a move- 
ment. "The whole country for miles in front of 
him, clear up to Cemetery Hill and the Round 
Tops, lay at his feet. In his rear a cross-country 
road branches off from the York turnpike about 
two and a half miles from Gettysburg, and, cross- 
ing over the high ground mentioned by Stuart [in 
his report], runs in a southeasterly direction to- 
ward the Low Dutch Road, which connects the 
York and Baltimore turnpikes. This high ground 
is divided south of the cross-road by the upper 
valley of Cress Run, forming two ridges, that 
west of the Run being known as Brinkerhoff's 
Ridge, and that east of it as Cress Ridge. A 
piece of woods crowns the easterly side of the 
ridge on the southerly side of the cross-road, 
affording protection and cover to the supports 
of the battery which was subsequently placed 
there. Screened by this and another piece of 
woods on the opposite side of the cross-road 
is a large open space on the Stallsmith farm, 
where the Confederate leader was enabled to mass 




t/3 

a 
o 
H 

o 
bjo 

03 



i 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 59 

and manoeuvre his command unobserved by his 
opponents." ^ 

The Union cavalry guarding Meade's right con- 
sisted of Mcintosh's (three regiments) and Irvin 
Gregg's brigade of Gregg's division and Custer's 
Michigan brigade of Kilpatrick's division, in all 
about five thousand men. The position occupied 
by Gregg's force had none of the advantages of 
that which Stuart held. Moreover, Stuart had 
with him between six and seven thousand men. 

About one o'clock in the afternoon, Custer, who 
had been ordered to join Kilpatrick at the Round 
Tops, had commenced his march toward the Union 
left, when Mcintosh reported to Gregg the pres- 
ence of the enemy and asked for support. Gregg 
accordingly ordered Custer to remain until he 
could bring up his third brigade. There was some 
skirmishing on the part of the enemy, dismounted 
troopers of W. H. F. Lee's brigade supporting the 
skirmishers, and then, emerging from the woods 
behind which his men had been concealed, Stuart's 
columns suddenly appeared, and moving rapidly 
down the slope into the broad, open field, with 
sabres drawn, colors waving, they aimed to sweep 
all before them. They were the brigades of Wade 
Hampton and Fitz Lee. But they found Gregg 

1 Gregg's Cavalry Fight at Gettysburg, by Brvt.- Lieut.-Col. 
William Brooke- Rawle, pp. 13, 14. 



6o The Battle 

ready to receive them. At once, with the shout- 
ings of the assailants, there were the clashing of 
sabres, and the sharp crack of small arms. It wac 
a close, hand-to-hand fight. The Confederates at 
length began to give way, the Union cavalry 
pressing upon them closer and closer, and the 
movement, in falling back, became a rout. In a 
word, Stuart was driven from the field into the 
woods from which he came, maintaining in its 
front, however, a line of skirmishers, from which 
for a while he kept up a brisk firing. But the fight- 
ing for the day was over. Stuart's attempt to 
reach the rear of Meade's army at the time of 
Pickett's charge had utterly failed. In his report 
of this fight, Stuart claimed to have driven the 
Union cavalry from the field, but he made men- 
tion of no corresponding rentdts. He summed up 
the work of the day in these words : *' During this 
day's operations, I held such a position as not 
only to render Ewell's left entirely secure, where 
the firing of my command, mistaken for that of 
the enemy, caused some apprehension, but com- 
manded a view of the routes leading to the enemy's 
rear. Had the enemy's main body [in Pickett's 
charge] been dislodged, ac was confidently hoped 
and expected, I was in precisely the right position 
to discover it and improve the opportunity. I 
watched keenly and anxiously the indications in 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 6t 

the rear for that purpose, while in the attack which 
I intended (which was forestalled by our troops 
being exposed to view), his cavalry would have 
separated from the main body, and gave promise 
of solid results and advantages." ^ 

It was certainly a great day for Gregg and those 
who fought under him. The scene of this cavalry 
battle is too much neglected by visitors to the 
Gettysburg battlefield. Custer, in his report, did 
not put the case any too strongly when he said: 
"I challenge the annals of warfare to produce a 
more brilliant or successful charge of cavalry than 
the one just recounted." 

The battle of Gettysburg closed with another 
cavalry fight on the left of the Union position, and 
in front of Big Round Top. Kilpatrick, who had 
been ordered to press the enemy at that point, 
thought he saw a favorable opportimity, and 
ordered Famsworth, one of his brigade command- 
ers, to charge the Confederate right. Famsworth, 
who had been made a brigadier-general on the eve 
of the battle in recognition of conspicuous gallan- 
try, did not approve of the charge, and remon- 
strated with Kilpatrick, in the desire to spare his 
men. "If you order the charge I shall make it" 
he said, "but you must take the responsibility." 

i Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, seriaJ 
No. 44, p. 699. 



62 The Battle 

Kilpatrick replied that he would take the responsi- 
bility, and Farns worth made the charge. It was 
boldly, heroically executed, but with consid- 
erable loss. Farns worth was killed, and so were 
many of his brave troopers. The Confederates 
received a scare, but no advantage was derived 
from it by Meade, and the day without the charge 
would have come to a far more satisfactory end. 

At the close of Pickett's failure, the Confederates 
anticipated an attack by Meade upon their lines. 
Longstreet says: "When this [Pickett's] charge 
failed, I expected that, of course, the enemy 
would throw himself against our shattered ranks 
and try to crush us. I sent my staff officers to the 
rear to assist in rallying the troops, and hurried to 
our line of batteries as the only support that I 
could give them. . . For unaccountable reasons 
the enemy did not pursue his advantage. " "By 
all the rules of warfare," says General Trimble, 
who commanded a division of Hill's corps in 
support of Pickett, "the Federal troops should 
(as I expected they would) have marched against 
our shattered columns and sought to cover our 
army with an overwhelming defeat."^ But 

» Doubleday's Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, pp. 206, 207. 
In his Notes, p 44, Professor Jacobs says: "At that time 
the enemy began to exhfoit signs of uneasiness and fear. 
They gathered up the wounded and sent them to the rear as 
fast as possible. They now feared that our men would make 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 63 

evidently Meade did not wish to imperil in any way 
the good accomplished in repulsing Lee's assault 
upon his lines. Nor did he show any purpose 
to renew the conflict. 

The losses of the Army of Northern Virginia 
at Gettysburg were 2592 killed, 12,709 wounded, 
and 5150 missing; total 20,451. The losses of the 
Army of the Potomac were 3072 killed, 14,497 
wounded, and 5434 missing; total 23,003. It 
should be borne in mind, however, that the 
Confederate returns were incomplete. Hunt says : 
'' Some commands are not reported, and in others 
the regimental returns show larger losses than do 
the brigade returns from which the foregoing 
numbers are compiled."^ Meade reported the 
capture of 13,621 prisoners, and Lee about 4000. 
Lee's entire force on the Gettysburg battlefield 
was about 78,000 men, while Meade had about 
92,000 or 94,000 men.2 

Meade's position at Gettysburg gave him a 

a dash upon them, a thing for which they evidently had no 
very great reHsh. They said to us, ' The Yankees intend, 
this evening, to charge upon us in the streets ; and when asked 
upon what authority they spoke, they only answered that 
they knew that such was to be the case, being evidently 
influenced by their fears. Apprehensive of such a result, 
they took a hasty supper, and, about midnight, formed in 
two ranks, and were under arms, as if awaiting a charge. " 

1 Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iii, p. 384. 

2 Nicolay and Hay's Abraham Lincoln, vol. vii, p. 279, 
note. 



64 The Battle 

great advantage. His line was a comparatively- 
short one, easily defensible, and easily reinforced 
at any part. The cause of the Confederate defeat 
has been attributed by some of Lee's officers to 
Longstreet's disobedience of orders. It should be 
remembered, however, that this charge was not 
made during Lee's lifetime. On the contrary, too, 
it has been clearly shown that throughout the 
three days of conflict Longstreet obeyed strictly 
all of Lee's orders, and received then and there- 
after Lee's approval of his conduct. ^ 

As has already been stated, Longstreet believed 
that an attack upon Meade's position at Gettys- 
burg would be unwise, and at variance with a dis- 
tinct understanding at the commencement of the 
campaign that use should be made of defensive 
tactics only. Accordingly, when Lee proposed to 
attack Meade in his defences at Gettysburg 
Longstreet strongly advised against any such 
movement ; but he was not disobedient. It may 
seem strange that Lee with his knowledge of 
Longstreet's utter lack of faith in Pickett's charge 
should have left its direction in his hands. But 
Lee himself gave the orders for the attack, 
and was upon the field when the charge was 
made. It was not only executed under his eye, 

» General E. P. Alexander in The American Historical 
Review, for July, 1905, pp. 903, 904. 



Gettysburg. The Third Day 65 

but it was within his power to make up for any 
deficiencies that were discoverable. Longstreet 
indicates his own view of his relation to the events 
of the third day at Gettysburg in these words : 
"That day at Gettysburg was one of the saddest 
of my life. 1 foresaw what my men would meet, 
and would gladly have given up my position 
rather than share in the responsibilities of that 
day.'^i 

» Battles and Leaders of the Civil War^ vol. iii. , p. 345 . 



CHAPTER V 

THE RETREAT 

IN three days Lee had exhausted the strength of 
his army to such an extent that retreat became 
necessary. The Confederate commander did not 
hasten his steps, however. Withdrawing what re- 
mained of his shattered battaHons to a defensive 
position on Seminary Ridge — all the troops had 
been withdrawn from the town and other parts of 
the line and placed in the rear of that ridge by 3 a.m. 
—he awaited an expected offensive movement 
on the part of Meade. But Meade at first seems 
not to have comprehended the magnitude of the 
victory he had won. At 4.15 p.m. July 4th, 
however, in a congratulatory address to the Army 
of the Potomac, Meade made mention of "the 
glorious result of the recent operations, " the enemy 
having "now withdrawn from the contest." At 
8.35 P.M. in a despatch to General Halleck, he re- 
ported that the enemy had been "handsomely 
repulsed." There were indications leading to the 
belief that Lee might be withdrawing. At 10 p.m. 
he telegraphed to General Halleck: "I make a 

66 




Hancock Statue. 



The Retreat 67 

reconnaissance to-morrow, to ascertain what the 
intention of the enemy is. " 

But among Meade's subordinates there were 
those v/ho had urged, immediately after the enemy 
was ** handsomely repulsed" on the afternoon of 
the 3d, an immediate offensive movement. Pleas- 
onton says that while with Meade on Little Round 
Top after the failure of Pickett's charge, he urged 
a general advance of the whole army. Hancock, 
that afternoon, as he was carried from the field 
severely wounded, dictated from his stretcher a 
note to Meade urging him to pursue the broken 
enemy. Later, in his testimony before the Commit- 
tee on the Conduct of the War, he said: "There 
were only two divisions of the enemy on our 
extreme left opposite Round Top, and there was a 
gap in their line of one mile that their assault had 
left ; and I believe, if our whole line had advanced 
with spirit it is not imlikely that we would have 
taken all their artillery at that point. " 

But, as has been said already, Meade did not 
deem it prudent to hazard in any way the advan- 
tage he had secured ; and in this he was sustained 
by many of his prominent ofHcers. 

Although Lee remained in his defensive position 
on Seminary Ridge throughout the 4th, orders 
for the retreat were given before noon, and in a 
rain-storm, which began during the day, his army 



68 The Battle 

trains were set in motion by the Chambersburg 
and Fairfield roads. At nightfall, what was left 
of Lee's army was to follow — the Second Corps 
as rear-guard, the First to follow the Third and 
push on to secure the crossings of the Potomac 
at Williamsport and Falling Waters.* It was 
daylight on the 5th, however, before the road was 
open for the march of the First Corps, and a little 
later hour of the morning before the Second 
Corps could follow. 2 

In his address to the Army of the Potomac at 
4.15 P.M., July 4th, General Meade said: "Our 
task is not yet accomplished, and the commanding 
general looks to the army for greater efforts to 
drive from our soil every vestige of the presence 
of the invader." President Lincoln, on reading 
these words, disappointed because Meade had not 
followed up his great victory on the 3d, with a 
prompt movement against Lee's defeated army, 
remarked, "This is a dreadful reminiscence of 
McClellan ; it is the same spirit that moved him to 
claim a great victory because Pennsylvania and 
Maryland are safe. Will our generals never get 

1 Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 426. 

2 In his Notes, p. 46, Professor Jacobs says: "As Sunday 
dawned upon us, only a few Rebel pickets remained in this 
region of country, unless we except the multitudes of 
stragglers from his army, and a larger number of his wounded, 
which were literally emptied out of his wagons into farm- 
houses and bams in his hasty retreat.-' 



The Retreat 69 

that idea out of their heads ? The whole country 
is our soil." ^ 

Early in the morning of July 5th, Meade discov- 
ered that Lee had withdrawn. In a despatch to 
Halleck at 8.30 a.m., he said: "The enemy 
retired under cover of the night and heavy rain 
in the direction of Fairfield and Cashtown. All 
my available cavalry are in pursuit on the enemy's 
flank and rear. My movement will be made 
at once on his flank, via Middletown and South 
Mountain Pass." 

Meade not only sent out his cavalry, but 
ordered the Sixth Corps, under Sedgwick, to move 
toward Fairfield. Sedgwick's report indicated a 
large force of the enemy in the moimtains, and 
Meade in consequence suspended the movement 
of the army to Middletown until he could be 
certain that the enemy was evacuating the 
Cumberland valley. 

At 9.20 p. M., July 6th, while still at Gettysburg, 
Meade announced to General Halleck that he had 
resumed the southward movement, and expected 
to assemble his army at Middletown by the night 
of July 7th. "If I can get the Army of the 
Potomac in hand in the valley, and the enemy 
have not crossed the river, I shall give him battle, " 
he said; but the sentence concluded as follows, 

^ Nicolay and Hay's Abraham Lincoln, vol. vii., p. 278. 



70 The Battle 

"trusting, should misfortune overtake me, that a 
sufficient number of my force, in connection with 
what you have in Washington would reach that 
place so as to render it secure." This certainly 
was not inspiring. "Misfortune" was not what 
the President was expecting, and he did not see 
why General Meade should make mention of 
it as a possibility. On the very day Meade 
sent this despatch to Halleck, the latter not 
only informed Meade that he had been appointed 
a brigadier-general in the regular army, his com- 
mission to bear the date of July 3d, the date of 
his ''brilliant victory at Gettysburg, " but he sent 
to him a note which he had received from the 
President as follows: ** We have certain informa- 
tion that Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant 
on the 4th of July. Now if General Meade can 
complete his work so gloriously prosecuted thus 
far by the literal or substantial destruction of 
Lee's army, the Rebellion will be over. " 

Notwithstanding the bad condition of the roads, 
Lee reached the Potomac on the 6th and 7th of 
July. He could not cross, however, as the river 
was greatly swollen on account of the recent heavy 
rains. While waiting for the waters to fall, and 
also for the construction of a bridge, Lee took up 
a defensive position. 

The proddings Meade received from Washington 



The Retreat 71 

with reference to the pursuit of Lee were not in 
any way pleasing. In his despatch to Halleck 
July 8th, he said : '' I expect to find the enemy in a 
strong position, well covered with artillery, and I 
do not desire to imitate his example at Gettysburg 
and assault a position where the chances were so 
greatly against success. I wish in advance to 
moderate the expectations of those who, in igno- 
rance of the difficulties to be encountered, may 
expect too much. All that I can do under the 
circumstances I pledge this army to do. " On 
that day there was a report that Lee was recrossing 
the Potomac at Williamsport, and Halleck in- 
formed Meade that the President was urgent and 
anxious that he should move against the retreating 
army by forced marches. To this Meade replied 
that his information as to Lee's crossing did not 
agree with that the President had received, and 
he added: '*My army is and has been making 
forced marches, short of rations and barefooted. 
One corps marched yesterday and last night over 
thirty miles. I take occasion to repeat that I will 
use my utmost efforts to push forward this army. " 
To this General Halleck made reply on the same 
day: "Do not understand me as expressing any 
dissatisfaction ; on the contrary , your army has done 
most nobly. I only wish to give you opinions 
formed from information here. . . . My only 



72 The Battle 

fear now is that the enemy may escape by crossing 
the river." 

Meade arrived in Lee's front July loth. Ad- 
vancing cautiously, he announced to General 
Halleck at 4.30 p. m., July 12th, "It is my inten- 
tion to attack them to-morrow, unless something 
intervenes to prevent it. " Something did happen. 
On the following day, July 13th, Meade informed 
General Halleck that having called his corps com- 
manders together, and submitted to them his 
proposition to attack the enemy, five out of six 
were unqualifiedly opposed to it. "Under these 
circumstances," he continued, "in view of the 
momentous consequences attendant upon a failure 
to succeed, I did not feel myself authorized to 
attack until after I had made more careful ex- 
amination of the enemy's position, strength, and 
defensive works." 

Halleck's reply, sent at 9.30 p.m., gave 
expression to the President's disappointment: 
** Yours of 5 P.M. is received. You are strong 
enough to attack and defeat the enemy before 
he can effect a crossing. Act upon your own 
judgment and make your generals execute your 
orders. Call no council of war. It is proverbial 
that councils of war never fight. Reinforcements 
are pushed on as rapidly as possible. Do not 
let the enemy escape." 



The Retreat 73 

What Mr. Lincoln feared all along, it might 
almost be said what he anticipated, came to pass. 
At II A. M., on July 14th, Meade telegraphed to 
General Halleck: *'0n advancing my army this 
morning, with a view of ascertaining the exact 
position of the enemy and attacking him if the 
result of the examination should justify me, I 
found , on reaching his lines, that they were evacua- 
ted. " Halleck gave expression to the President's 
added dissatisfaction in a despatch dated i p.m. : 
"I need hardly say to you that the escape of 
Lee's army without another battle has created 
great dissatisfaction in the mind of the President, 
and it will require an active and energetic pursuit 
on your part to remove the impression that 
it has not been sufficiently active heretofore." 
These words Meade promptly resented . The fact is 
that at a council of war Meade favored an attack, 
but was overborne by his corps commanders. 
French, Sedgwick, and Slocum were especially 
strenuous in their opposition to an attack. Meade 
responded to Halleck's communication in these 
words : '* Having performed my duty conscientious- 
ly and to the best of my ability, the censure of the 
President conveyed in your despatch of one p. m. 
this day, is, in my judgment, so undeserved that 
I feel compelled most respectfully to ask to be im- 
mediately relieved from the command of the army. 



74 The Battle 

General Halleck hastened an hour later to reply, 
saying that the disappointment of the President 
at the escape of Lee's army was not intended as a 
censure, but as a stimulus to an active pursuit, 
and that the incident was not deemed a sufficient 
cause for Meade's application to be relieved. Some- 
thing might yet be done even if the golden op- 
portunity had been lost. Mr. Lincoln, however, 
did not attempt to conceal his disappointment. 
" We had gone through all the labor of tilling and 
planting an enormous crop, " he said, "and when it 
was ripe we did not harvest it." But the Presi- 
dent did not withhold words of praise for what had 
been accomplished. " I am very grateful to Mead e 
for the great service he did at Gettysburg, " he add- 
ed, and he continued to give him his full confidence 
as a brave and skilful officer. His thoughts, how- 
ever, he committed to paper in the following letter ^ 
addressed to General Meade. This letter was 
neither signed nor sent, the President withholding 
it evidently lest it should still further wound the 
feelings of an officer who, notwithstanding his 
failings, deserved well of his country for services 
faithfully rendered. This is the letter: 

" I have just seen your despatch to General Hal- 
leck, asking to be relieved of your command be- 
cause of a supposed censure of mine. I am very, 
very grateful to you for the magnificent success 



The Retreat 75 

you gave the cause of the country at Gettysburg ; 
and I am sorry now to be the author of the sHght- 
est pain to you. But I was in such deep distress 
myself that I could not restrain some expression 
of it. I have been oppressed nearly ever since the 
battles at Gettysburg by what appeared to be evi- 
dences that yourself and General Couch and Gen- 
eral Smith were not seeking a collision with the 
enemy, but were trying to get him across the river 
without another battle. What these evidences 
were, if you please, I hope to tell you at some time 
when we both shall feel better. The case, sum- 
marily stated, is this : You fought and beat the ene- 
my at Gettysburg; and, of course, to say the least, 
his loss was as great as yours. He retreated, and 
you did not, as it seemed to me, pressingly pursue 
him; but a flood in the river detained him till, by 
slow degrees, you were again upon him. You had 
at least twenty thousand veteran troops directly 
with you, and as many more raw ones within sup- 
porting distance, all in addition to those who 
fought with you at Gettysburg; while it was not 
possible that he had received a single recruit; and 
yet you stood and let the flood run down, bridges 
be built, and the enemy move away at his leisure 
without attacking him. And Couch and Smith — 
the latter left Carlisle in time, upon all ordinary 
calculation, to have aided you in the last battle at 



76 The Battle 

Gettysburg, but he did not arrive. At the end of 
more than ten days, I believe twelve, under con- 
stant urging he reached Hagerstown from Carlisle, 
which is not an inch over fifty-five miles, if so 
much, and Couch's movement was very little 
different. 

"Again, my dear general, I do not believe you 
appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune in- 
volved in Lee's escape. He was within your easy 
grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in con- 
nection with our other late successes, have ended 
the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefi- 
nitely. If you could not safely attack Lee last Mon- 
day, how can you possibly do so south of the river, 
when you can take with you very few more than 
two thirds of the force you then had in hand? 
It would be unreasonable to expect and I do not 
expect that you can now effect much. Your 
golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed 
immeasurably because of it. 

'* I beg you will not consider this a prosecution 
or persecution of yourself. As you had learned 
that I was dissatisfied, I have thought it best to 
kindly tell you why. "^ 

But Lee and his army, also the Confederates 
generally, had their disappointments as well as 

» Nicolay and Hay's Abraham Lincoln, vol. vii., pp. 280, 
281. 



The Retreat 77 

Mr. Lincoln; indeed they were even greater. The 
Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac on 
its way northward with the fullest confidence in 
the success of the movement. Officers and men 
alike expected speedy and complete victory, and 
instead they suffered a humiliating defeat. At 
Gettysburg they not only had lost a great battle 
at a fearful cost of life, but they had witnessed 
the destruction of fondly cherished hopes. These 
hopes included the defeat of the Army of the Po- 
tomac, the capture of Washington, and the per- 
manence of the Confederacy. It was a strong, 
solid, enthusiastic body of veterans that Lee led 
across the Potomac. Only decimated ranks re- 
turned. The high- water mark of the Rebellion 
had been reached. The contest was not aban- 
doned, but Lee was never again at the head of an 
army of equal strength, and never again did he set 
his columns in motion and enter into the conflict 
with such high hopes of a successful issue as when 
he approached Gettysburg and threw down the 
gage of battle. 



PART II 

THE CEMETERY 



THE CEMETERY 



CHAPTER I 



ORIGIN OF THE NATIONAL CEMETERY 

SHORTLY after the battle of Gettysburg was 
fought, the Hon. Andrew G. Curtin, Gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania, visited the battle-field 
bringing relief to the sick and wounded soldiers, 
who remained in the various hospitals in and 
around the town. When he left Gettysburg, 
he made David Wills, Esq., his representative in 
such further ministrations as it would be possible 
for the State to render. Mr. Wills was not only a 
resident of Gettysburg and a true-hearted patriot, 
but a man of great executive ability. In his 
frequent visits to different parts of the battle-field, 
he had found places where the dead had been 
so hastily buried as to be only partially covered. 
Some of the graves were unmarked, or, if marked, 
the letters on the headboards had already become 
partly obliterated. The scenes thus witnessed 

suggested to Mr. Wills the thought of bringing 
6 8i 



S2 The Cemetery 

together in a national cemetery the scattered 
remains of these dead heroes ; and on July 24, 1863, 
he wrote to Governor Curtin submitting a plan for 
the establishment of such a cemetery. This plan 
received the hearty approval of Governor Curtin ; 
and at his request Mr. Wills entered into corres- 
pondence with the governors of other States, 
whose soldiers were engaged in the battle at 
Gettysburg. 

On August 17th, Mr. Wills wrote to Governor 
Curtin as follows: "By virtue of the authority 
reposed in me by your excellency, I have invited 
the co-operation of the several States having sol- 
dier-dead on the battle-field around this place, in 
the noble project of removing their remains from 
their present exposed and imperfectly buried 
condition, on the fields for miles aroimd, to a 
Cemetery. 

"The chief executives of fifteen out of the 
seventeen States have already responded, in most 
instances pledging their States to unite in the move- 
merit; in a few instances highly approving of the 
project, and stipulating to urge upon their legisla- 
tures to make appropriations to defray their pro- 
portionate share of expense. 

" I have also, at your request, selected and pur- 
chased ^ grounds for this cemetery, the land to be 

1 The cost was $2475. 87. 



Origin of the National Cemetery 83 

paid for by, and the title to be made to, the State 
of Pennsylvania, and to be held in perpetuity, de- 
voted to the object for which purchased. 

"The grounds embrace about seventeen acres 
on Cemetery Hill, fronting on the Baltimore turn- 
pike, and extending to the Taney town road. It is 
the ground which formed the apex of our triangu- 
lar line of battle, and the key to our line of defences. 
It embraces the highest point on Cemetery Hill, 
and overlooks the whole battle-field. It is the spot 
which should be specially consecrated to this sa- 
cred purpose. It was here that such immense 
quantities of our artillery were massed, and during 
Thursday and Friday of the battle, from this 
most important point on the field, dealt out death 
and destruction to the rebel army in every di- 
rection of their advance. 

*' I have been in conference, at different times, 
with agents sent here by the governors of several 
of the States, and we have arranged details for 
carrying out this sacred work. I herewith inclose 
you a copy of the proposed arrangement of details, 
a copy of which I have also sent to the chief execu- 
tive of each State having dead here. 

" I have also, at your suggestion, cordially ten- 
dered to each State the privilege, if they desire, of 
joining in the title to the land. 

"I think it would be showing only a proper 



84 The Cemetery 

respect for the health of this community not to 
commence exhuming the dead, and removal to the 
cemetery, until the month of November ; and in the 
meantime the grounds should be artistically laid 
out, and consecrated by appropriate ceremonies. " 

Governor Curtin, in a letter to Mr. Wills, dated 
August 2ist, expressed his satisfaction with the 
details of the plan suggested, but added : " It is of 
course probable that our sister States, joining with 
us in this hallowed undertaking, may desire to 
make some alterations and modifications of your 
proposed plan of purchasing and managing these 
sacred grounds, and it is my wish that you give to 
their views the most careful and respectful consid- 
eration. Pennsylvania will be so highly honored 
by the possession within her limits of this soldier's 
mausoleum, and so much distinguished among the 
other States by their contributions in aid of so 
glorious a monument to patriotism and humanity, 
that it becomes her duty, as it is her melancholy 
pleasure, to yield in every reasonable way to the 
wishes and suggestions of the States, which join 
with her in dedicating a portion of her territory to 
the solemn uses of a national sepulchre." ^ 

The cemetery grounds were plotted and laid out 
by Mr. William Saunders, a landscape gardener of 

» In the Report of the Joint Special Committee of the City of 
Boston (Boston, 1863, p. 12) we have this statement: "A 
number of different schemes were suggested, and especially 



Origin of the National Cemetery 85 

Germantown, Pennsylvania. Lots were laid off 
for each loyal State whose soldiers fell in the battle 
of Gettysburg, the largest space being given to the 
State of New York, and the next largest to the 
State of Pennsylvania. In the semicircular ar- 
rangement of the lots, the other States represented 
by the dead were Illinois, Virginia, Delaware, 
Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jer- 
sey, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Minnesota, Maryland, 
Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Indiana. 
Lots also were provided for the unknown dead, and 
for those of the United States Regulars. Each lot 
was laid off in sections, with a space of four feet for 
a walk between each section. Two feet of space 
were allotted to each grave, and the bodies were laid 
with the heads toward the centre of the semicircle. 
At the head of the graves a stone wall was placed 
as a foundation for the heaasuones along the whole 
length of each section, and on these headstones 
were inscribed the name, company, and regiment 
of the deceased, if known. The removals and 



one, which was strongly urged by Mr. Wills, — who several 
times informed the Committee that he was supported therein 
by the governors of several of the States, viz : — that the burials 
should not be by States, but promiscuously. Correspondence 
on this subject was carried on for several weeks, the Com- 
mittee persistently and strenuously advocating separate 
State lots, and they finally had the satisfaction of learning 
that the grounds would be laid out according to their idea 
of propriety, 1* 



86 The Cemetery 

burials were made under competent supervision, 
and with the greatest care. The authorities of tne 
city of Boston, in concert with the Governor of 
Massachusetts, sent efficient representatives to 
the battle-field, who made the removals of the 
Massachusetts dead. The other States entrusted 
the arrangements for the removal of their dead 
to Mr. Wills. 



CHAPTER II 

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONSECRATION 
OF THE CEMETERY 

MR. Wills 's suggestion to Governor Curtin, in his 
letter of August 17th, that the cemetery 
should be ''consecrated by appropriate cere- 
monies, " met with the governor's approval. The 
arrangements for these ceremonies were made by 
Mr. Wills, at the request of Governor Curtin, and 
the governors of other States interested in the 
proper care of their soldier-dead. The Hon. Ed- 
ward Everett of Massachusetts was selected as the 
orator of the occasion, and September 23, 1863, 
Mr. Wills, as the agent of the Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, addressed to him the following note: 

'' The several States having soldiers in the Army 
of the Potomac, who fell at the battle of Gettysburg 
in July last, gallantly fighting for the Union, have 
made arrangements here for the exhuming of all 
their dead, and their removal and decent burial in 
a cemetery selected for that purpose on a promi- 
nent part of the battle-field. The design is to bury 
all in common, marking with headstones, with the 

87 



SS The Cemetery 

proper inscription, the known dead, and to erect a 
suitable monument to the memory of all these 
brave men, who have thus sacrificed their lives on 
the altar of their country. This burial-ground will 
be consecrated to this sacred and holy purpose on 
Thursday, the 23d day of October next, with ap- 
propriate ceremonies, and the several States inter- 
ested have united in the selection of you to deliver 
the oration on that solemn occasion. I am there- 
fore instructed by the governors of the different 
States interested in the project to invite you cor- 
dially to join with them in the ceremonies, and 
to deliver the oration for the occasion." 

Three days later, September 26th, Mr. Everett 
addressed to Mr. Wills a favorable reply. He said : 
"I have received your favor of the 23d instant, 
inviting me, on behalf of the governors of the 
States interested in the preparation of a cemetery 
for the soldiers who fell in the great battles of July 
last, to deliver an address at the consecration. I 
feel much complimented by this request, and would 
cheerfully undertake the performance of a duty at 
once so interesting and honorable. It is, however, 
wholly out of my power to make the requisite 
preparation by the 23d of October. I am under en- 
gagements which will occupy all my time from 
Monday next to the 12th of October, and, indeed, 
it is doubtful whether, during the whole month of 



The Consecration 89 

October, 1 shall have a day at my command. 

" The occasion is one of great importance, not to 
be dismissed with a few sentimental or patriotic 
commonplaces. It will demand as full a narrative 
of the events of the three important days as the 
limits of the hour will admit, and some appropriate 
discussion of the political character of the great 
struggle, of which the battle of Gettysburg is one of 
of the most momentous incidents. As it will take 
me two days to reach Gettysburg, and it will be 
highly desirable that I should have at least one day 
to survey the battle-field, I cannot safely name an 
earlier time than the 19th of November. 

"Should such a postponement of the day first 
proposed be admissible, it will give me great pleas- 
ure to accept the invitation. " 

In compliance with Mr. Everett's suggestion as 
expressed in this letter, Thursday, the 19th 
of November, was appointed for the commemo- 
ration services. 

Among those who were invited to be present 
was General Meade, commanding the Army of the 
Potomac. In a letter to Mr. Wills, acknowledging 
the reception of this invitation. General Meade 
wrote: *'I have the honor to acknowledge the in- 
vitation which, on behalf of the Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, and other States interested, you extend 
to me and the officers and men of my command, 



90 The Cemetery 

to be present on the 19th instant at the consecra- 
tion of the burial-place of those who fell on the 
field of Gettysburg. 

** It seems almost unnecessary for me to say that 
none can have a deeper interest in your good work 
than comrades in arms, bound in close ties of long 
association and mutual confidence and support 
with those to whom you are paying this last trib- 
ute of respect; nor could the presence of any be 
more appropriate than that of those who stood side 
by side in the struggle, shared the peril, and the 
vacant places in whose ranks bear sad testimony 
to the loss they have sustained. But this army 
has duties to perform which will not admit of its 
being represented on the occasion; and it only 
remains for me in its name, w4th deep and grateful 
feelings to thank you and those you represent for 
your tender care of its heroic dead, and for your 
patriotic zeal, which, in honoring the martyr, gives 
a fresh incentive to all who do battle for the main- 
tenance of the integrity of the government." 

It was especially desired that the national gov- 
ernment should be represented at the consecration 
services by its head, and Mr. Wills sent to President 
Lincoln the following invitation on November 
2, 1863: 

** The several States having soldiers in the Army 
of the Potomac, who were killed at the battle of 



The Consecration 91 

Gettysburg, or have since died at the various hos- 
pitals which were established in the vicinity, have 
procured grounds on a prominent part of the 
field for a cemetery, and are having the dead 
removed to them and properly buried. These 
grounds will be consecrated and set apart to this 
sacred purpose, by appropriate ceremonies, on 
Thursday, the 19th instant. Hon. Edward Ever- 
ett will deliver the oration. I am authorized by 
the governors of the different States to invite you 
to be present and participate in these ceremonies, 
which will doubtless be veryimposing and solemnly 
impressive. It is the desire that after the oration, 
you, as Chief Executive of the nation, formally set 
apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few 
appropriate remarks. It will be a source of great 
gratification to the many widows and orphans that 
have been made almost friendless by the great 
battle here, to have you here personally ; and it will 
kindle anew in the breasts of the comrades of these 
brave dead, who are now in the tented field or nobly 
meeting the foe in the front, a confidence that 
they who sleep in death on the battle-field are not 
forgotten by those highest in authority ; and they 
will feel that, should their fate be the same, their 
remains will not be uncared for. We hope you will 
be able to be present to perform this last solemn 
act to the soldier-dead on this battle-field." 



92 The Cemetery 

This official invitation was accompanied by a 
private note from Mr. Wills as follows: **As the 
hotels in our town will be crowded and in confusion 
at the time referred to in the enclosed invitation, I 
write to invite you to stop with me. I hope you 
will feel it your duty to lay aside pressing business 
for a day to come on here to perform this last sad 
rite to our brave soldiers on the 19th instant. Gov- 
ernor Curtin and Hon. Edward Everett will be my 
guests at that time, and if you come you will please 
join them at my house." 

Of course, November was a busy month for Mr. 
Lincoln. In all that pertained to the various ar- 
mies in the field the President took a very deep in- 
terest. The time for the meeting of Congress also 
was approaching, and his annual message was to 
be prepared. But Mr. Lincoln needed no urging 
with reference to this appointment. His great 
heart was too full of gratitude for what had been so 
gloriously accomplished at Gettysburg, and he pur- 
posed to meet the appointment. The members of 
the Cabinet were among those who received spe- 
cial invitations. On November 17th, Mr. Lincoln 
wrote to Mr. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury: " I 
expected to see you here at Cabinet meeting, and 
to say something about going to Gettysburg. There 
will be a train to take and return us. The time for 
starting is not yet fixed ; but when it shall be I will 



The Consecration 93 

notify you." Mr. Chase, however, was not able 
to go to Gettysburg, and had so notified Mr. Wills. 
Secretary Stanton, also, found the duties of his 
office too pressing to admit of his absence from 
Washington at that time ; but on the 1 7th he sent 
to the President a note with reference to the ar- 
rangements he had made for the transportation of 
the Washington invited guests: 

** It is proposed by the Baltimore and Ohio road : 
First, to leave Washington, Thursday morning at 
6 A.M., Second, to leave Baltimore at 8 a.m., ar- 
riving at Gettysburg at twelve, noon, thus giving 
two hours to view the ground before the dedication 
ceremonies commence. Third, to leave Gettys- 
burg at 6 P.M., and arrive at Washington at mid- 
night, thus doing all in one day." 

This arrangement was not satisfactory to Mr. 
Lincoln. The time at Gettysburg was wholly in- 
sufficient for such a visit. Busy as the President 
was, he was not so busy but that he could give all 
the time that such an occasion might properly de- 
mand. Then, too, an accident might prevent his 
reaching Gettysburg in season, and he wrote upon 
this note from Mr. Stanton the following endorse- 
ment: *'I do not like the arrangement. I do not 
wish to so go that by the slightest accident we fail 
entirely; and, at the best, the whole to be a mere 
breathless running of the gauntlet. But any way. ' ' 



94 The Cemetery 

In other words, if no other arrangement were pos- 
sible, he would yield of course. But another ar- 
rangement was possible, and when this was made 
the President was informed that the special train 
would leave Washington at noon on Wednesday, 
November i8th, instead of 6 a.m., on Thursday, 
the loth. 



CHAPTER III 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN GOES TO GETTYSBURG 

THREE members of the Cabinet accompanied 
the President to Gettysburg — Mr. Seward, 
Secretary of State, Mr. Usher, Secretary of the 
Interior, and Mr. Blair, Postmaster-General. The 
French Minister, M. Mercier, the Italian Minister, 
M. Bertinatti, and several legation secretaries and 
attaches were of the party. Mr. John G. Nicolay, 
the President's private secretary, and Colonel John 
Hay, his assistant private secretary, were in attend- 
ance upon the President. Among the guests, also, 
were Captain H. A. Wise, U. S. N., and Mrs. Wise, 
a daughter of the Hon. Edward Everett. On the 
train, moreover, were newspaper correspondents 
from Washington, and a military guard of honor; 
also military officers who here and there joined the 
train on the v/ay to Gettysburg. 

The special train reached Gettysburg at the 
close of the afternoon. The President went at 
once to the home of Mr. Wills, while the members 
of his Cabinet who were present, and other distin- 
guished guests, were made welcome in other homes. 

95 



96 The Cemetery 

The little town now suddenly become so famous 
was already full of visitors, drawn thither by the 
commemorative services of the following day. In 
the evening everywhere were heard the stirring 
strains of martial music, also the favorite war- 
songs as sung by innumerable glee-clubs. Some 
of the more prominent guesus were serenaded, and 
there were calls for speeches. Mr. Lincoln re- 
sponded to such a call in these brief words: "I 
appear before you, fellow-citizens, merely to thank 
you for this compliment. The inference is a very 
fair one that you would hear me for a little while 
at least, were I to commence to make a speech. 
I do not appear before you for the purpose of 
doing so, and for several substantial reasons. The 
most substantial of these is that I have no speech 
to make. In my position it is somewhat import- 
ant that I should not say any foolish things. [A 
voice, 'If you can help it.'] It very often happens 
that the only way to help it is to say nothing at 
all. Believing that is my present condition this 
evening, I must beg of you to excuse me from ad- 
dressing you further. " 

The visitors then called upon other distinguished 
guests, and short addresses were made by Secre- 
tary Seward, Representatives McPherson and 
McKnight, Judge Shannon, Colonel John W. For- 
ney, Wayne MacVeagh, and perhaps others. Mr. 




Abraham Lincoln. 
A Drawing from Life by F. B. Carpenter 



Lincoln Goes to Gettysburg 97 

Seward, in his address as published in a volume 
giving an account of the consecration of the ceme- 
tery at Gettysburg, printed in Boston early in 1864, 
is made to say, " This is the first time that ever 
any people or community so near to the border of 
Maryland was found willing to listen to my voice " ; 
but when the writer was in Gettysburg a few 
years ago, and Judge Wills was giving him an 
account of President Lincoln's visit, he said 
that Mr. Seward, instead of using the words **so 
near to the border of Maryland,'* said, ''on this 
side of Mason and Dixon's line," meaning the 
southern side. In some way, strangely enough, he 
had come to think of Gettysburg as being in the 
State of Maryland, and so at the time supposed he 
was speaking largely to slave-holders. In fact the 
note of this presupposition runs all through the 
address, for Mr. Seward added: "I am thankful 
that you are willing to hear me at last. I thank my 
God that I believe this strife is going to end in the 
removal of all that evil which ought to have been 
removed by deliberate councils and peaceful means. 
['Good.'] I thank my God for the hope . . . 
that when that cause is removed, simply by the 
operation of abolishing it, as the origin and agent 
of the treason that is without justification and 
without parallel, we shall henceforth be united, be 
only one country, having only one hope, one 
7 



9^ The Cemetery 

ambition, and one destiny. To-morrow, at least, 
we shall feel that we are not enemies, but that we 
are friends and brothers, that this Union is a reality, 
and we shall mourn together for the evil wrought 
by this rebellion. . . . When we part to-morrow 
night, let us remember that we owe it to our coun- 
try and to mankind that this war shall have for 
its conclusion the establishing of the principle 
of democratic government — the simple principle 
that whatever party, whatever portion of the com- 
munity, prevails by constitutional suffrage in an 
election, that party is to be respected and main- 
tained in power until it shall give place, on another 
trial and another verdict, to a different portion of 
the people. If you do not do this, you are drift- 
ing at once and irresistibly to the very verge of 
universal, cheerless, and hopeless anarchy. " There 
were those in Maryland to whom these words might 
very appropriately have been addressed, but they 
fell with somewhat of surprise upon the ears of 
loyal, patriotic Pennsylvanians. 

About nine o 'clock in the evening Presi- 
dent Lincoln sent his servant down-stairs with 
a request for writing materials. These Mr. 
Wills himself took to Mr. Lincoln's chamber. 
When Mr. Wills entered the room, the President 
said, *'Mr. Wills, what do you expect from me 
to-morrow?" Mr. Wills replied, "A brief address, 



Lincoln Goes to Gettysburg 99 

Mr. President." He then left the President. In 
about half an hour Mr. Lincoln came down-stairs 
with some sheets of paper in his hand, and asked 
Mr. Wills to accompany him to the house in which 
Secretary Seward was a guest. They found Mr. 
Seward, and President Lincoln handed to the Sec- 
retary the manuscript he had brought. The 
Secretary read what Mr. Lincoln had written, ex- 
pressed his satisfaction with it, and then the Presi- 
dent and Mr. Wills returned to Mr. Wills's house.i 
It has been said that Mr. Lincoln wrote his Get- 
tysburg address in the car on his way to the con- 
secration services. For example, Arnold, in his 
Life of Abraham Lincoln ^^ says that the President, 
''while in the cars on his way from the White 
House to the battle-field, was notified that he 
would be expected to make some remarks also"; 
that '' asking for some paper, a rough sheet of 
foolscap was handed to him, and, retiring to a seat 
by himself, with a pencil he wrote the address. " 
Ben Perley Poore, also, in his Reminiscences of 
Abraham Lincoln,^ says that the President's re- 
marks at Gettysburg " were written in the car on 
his way from Washington to the battle-field, upon 
a piece of paste-board held on his knee. " It has 

» Communicated to the writer by Wm. P. Quimby, Esq. 
of Gettysburg, Judge Wills's son-in-law. 

2 Page 328. 

3 Page 228. 



loo The Cemetery 

been said also that Mr. Lincoln wrote the address 
upon his hat, which he held in his lap. 

On the contrary, however, Mr. John G. Nicolay, 
President Lincoln's private secretary, who, as has 
been stated, accompanied the President to Gettys- 
burg, says: ''There is neither record, evidence, nor 
well-founded tradition that Mr. Lincoln did any 
writing, or made any notes, on the journey be- 
tween Washington and Gettysburg. The train 
consisted of four passenger coaches, and either 
composition or writing would have been extremely 
troublesome amid all the movement, the noise, the 
conversation, the greeting, and the questionings 
which ordinary courtesy required him to undergo 
in these surroundings ; but still worse would have 
been the rockings and joltings of the train, ren- 
dering writing virtually impossible. " ^ 

Noah Brooks, in his Life of Lincoln,'^ says that, 
a few days before the 19th of November, Mr. 
Lincoln told him that Mr. Everett had kindly sent 
to him a copy of his address in order that the 
same ground might not be gone over by both, but 
Mr. Lincoln added: "There is no danger that I 
shall. My speech is all blocked out. It is very 
short. " When Mr. Brooks asked the President if 
the address was written, Mr. Lincoln replied, 

» Century Magazine, vol. xxv, p. 601. 
2 Page 394. 



Lincoln Goes to Gettysburg loi 

"Not exactly written; it is not finished, any- 
way." 

A part of the address, however, was written on 
the day before Mr. Lincoln left Washington for 
Gettysburg. This much we know on the testi- 
mony of Private Secretary Nicolay, who a few 
years ago published a facsimile reproduction of 
this original draft of the President's Gettysburg 
address. 1 It reads as follows: 

" Executive Mansion, 
"Washington, . . . 1863. 

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, 
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propo- 
sition that ' all men are created equal . ' 

**Now we are engaged in a great civil war, 
testing whether that nation or any nation so 
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. 
We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We 
have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final 
resting place for those who died here, that the 
nation might live. This we may, in all propriety 
do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — 
we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this 
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who 
struggled here, have hallowed it far above our 
poor power to add or detract. The world will little 

i Century Magazine, vol. xxv, pp. 598, 599. 



I02 The Cemetery 

note, nor long remember what we say here ; while 
it can never forget what they did here. 

''It is rather for us, the living, we here be 
dedica — "^ 

The page closes with these words. Mr. Nicolay 
says : " The whole of the first page — nineteen lines 
— is written in ink in the President's strong, clear 
hand, without blot or erasure; and the last line is 
in the following form : ' It is rather for us the 
living to stand here, ' the last three words being, 
like the rest, in ink. From the fact that this sen- 
tence is incomplete, we may infer that at the time 
of writing it in Washington the remainder of the 
sentence was also written in ink on another piece 
of paper. But when, at Gettysburg on the morn- 
ing of the ceremonies, Mr. Lincoln finished his man- 
uscript, he used a lead pencil, with which he 
crossed out the last three words of the first page, 
and wrote above them in pencil ' we here be ded- 
ica- ' at which point he took up a new half sheet 
of paper — ^not white letter paper as before, but a 
bluish-gray foolscap of large size with wide lines, 
habitually used by him for long or formal doc- 
uments, — and on this he wrote, all in pencil, the 
remainder of the word, and of the first draft of 

the address, comprising a total of nine lines and 
a half. "2 

^ Century Magazine, vol, xxv, pp. 598, 599. 
2 Century Magazine, vol. xxv., pp. 601, 602. 



Lincoln Goes to Gettysburg 103 

The part of the address on this second sheet is 
as follows: 

"ted to the great task remaining before us — 
that, from these honored dead we take increased 
devotion to that cause for which they here gave 
the last full measure of devotion — that we here 
highly resolve these dead shall not have died in 
vain; that the nation shall have a new birth of 
freedom, and that government of the people, by the 
people, for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. " ' 

Mr. Nicolay wrote his statement with reference 
to Mr. Lincoln's address thirty years after the con- 
secration of the cemetery at Gettysburg. He 
gives his recollection of the finishing of the address 
in these words : '' It was after the breakfast hour on 
the morning of the 19th, that the writer, Mr. Lin- 
coln's private secretary, went to the upper room 
in the house of Mr. Wills which Mr. Lincoln occu- 
pied, to report for duty, and remained with the 
President while he finished writing the Gettysburg 
address, during the short leisure he could utilize 
for this purpose before being called to take his 
place in the procession, which was announced on 
the program to move promptly at ten o 'clock. " 2 

It seems hardly possible that, with the quiet and 

1 Century Magazine, vol. xxv., p. 600. 
* Century Magazine, vol. xxv., p. 601. 



I04 The Cemetery 

leisure of the evening before, Mr. Lincoln would 
have left the preparation of the conclusion of his 
address until the busy moments of the after-break- 
fast hour of the next morning, with the exception 
of the last touches which doubtless occupied his 
attention. Major W. H. Lambert of Philadelphia 
makes this statement: "The Hon. Edward Mc- 
Pherson and Judge Wills of Gettysburg are of the 
opinion that the address was written in Mr. Lin- 
coln's room at Judge Wills 's house, where he was 
guest during his stay in Gettysburg. There ap- 
pears to be no doubt of the correctness of Mr. Mc- 
pherson's assertion that before retiring on the 
night of the i8th the President inquired the order 
of the exercises of the next day, and wrote out his 
remarks there, and it is probable that what he 
wrote was the final draft of his address before its 
delivery. " ^ 

When these words were written. Major Lambert 
had not seen Mr. Nicolay's statement with refer- 
ence to the first page of Mr. Lincoln 's original draft 
of the Gettysburg address. His language, how- 
ever, implies an original draft. Nor, evidently, 
had Mr. Nicolay any knowledge of the fact that in 
the evening of the i8th, Mr. Lincoln had asked 
Mr. Wills what was expected of him in connection 
with the consecration services, and had received 

> Century Magazine, vol. xxv., p. 637. 



Lincoln Goes to Gettysburg 105 

from him writing materials in accordance with a 
request of the President. As all the evidence with 
reference to the composition of the original draft 
of the Gettysburg address is now in, therefore, the 
facts seem to be these : that on the day before he 
left Washington for Gettysburg, Mr. Lincoln, who 
had already "blocked out" his address, wrote in 
ink the first page on paper with the Executive 
Mansion letter-head, and he may have completed 
the address — probably did — on another sheet of 
the same paper. At Gettysburg, however, where 
he went over the address again, he was dissatisfied 
with the conclusion, if the conclusion had been 
written ; or, if it had not been written, he now com- 
pleted the address, probably in the evening of the 
1 8th, possibly on the morning of the 19th, in the 
house of Mr. Wills, using a lead-pencil, striking 
out, on the first sheet written in ink in Washington, 
the words ''to stand here," and adding the words 
in pencil, "we here be dedica-." This pencil 
change at the bottom of the first page was evident- 
ly a hurried one, "we" being used for "to," but 
there is no evidence of haste either in the composi- 
tion or the writing of the nine and a half lines on 
the second page. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CONSECRATION SERVICES 

EARLY on the morning of November igth all 
was stir and bustle in Gettysburg. The day 
was a serene, delightful one. The little town was 
crowded. There were the usual delays in forming 
the procession. The President was mounted, as 
also were Secretaries Seward, Usher, and Blair, 
with others of the official retinue. Mr. Nicolay 
tells us that as soon as Mr. Lincoln appeared in the 
procession he was besieged by a throng of people 
eager to shake hands with the President, and that 
the marshals had some difficulty in inducing the 
crowd to desist and allow Mr. Lincoln to sit in 
peace upon his horse. In the military part of the 
procession were Generals Schenck, Stahel, Stone- 
man, and their staffs, and numerous other officers 
of less prominence. It was not until about eleven 
o'clock that the presidential party reached the 
platform in the cemetery. ^ "Mr. Everett, the 

» "A stage, hardly more, as it seemed, by comparison with 
what it should have been, than 'seven by nine,' and elevated 
only three feet from the ground, had been built facing the 
cemetery, the town, the rebel position, the country around 
and the grand chain of high hills whose tops ascend to meet 
the distant horizon. " — Boston Daily Advertiser, Nov, 23, 1863. 

106 



The Consecration Services 107 

orator of the day, arrived fully half an hour later, 
and there was still further waiting before the mili- 
tary bodies and civic spectators could be properly 
arranged and stationed." 

The following was the program at the conse- 
cration services : 

Music by Borgfield's Band. 

Prayer by Rev. T. H. Stockton, D.D. 

Music by the Marine Band. 

Oration by Hon. Edward Everett. 

Music, Hymn composed by B. B. French, Esq. 

Dedicatory Remarks by the President of the 

United States. 
Dirge sung by Choir selected for the occasion. 
Benediction by Rev. H. L. Baugher, D.D. 
The prayer by Dr. Stockton was a fervent, im- 
pressive recognition of the divine presence in the 
great victory vouchsafed to our arms on this now 
historic field, together with an earnest appeal for 
the blessing of God upon the nation's defenders: 
*' O Father, bless us ! Bless the bereaved , whether 
present or absent; bless our sick and wounded sol- 
diers and sailors; bless all our rulers and people; 
bless our army and navy ; bless the efforts for the 
suppression of the rebellion ; and bless all the as- 
sociations of this day and place and scene forever. 
As the trees are not dead, though their foliage is 
gone, so our heroes are not dead, though their 



io8 The Cemetery 

forms have fallen. In their proper personality 
they are all with Thee. And the spirit of their 
example is here. It fills the air; it fills our hearts. 
And long as time shall last it will hover in these 
skies, and rest on this landscape ; and the pilgrims 
of our land, and from all lands, will thrill with its 
inspiration, and increase and confirm their devo- 
tion to liberty, religion, and God. " 

The oration by the Hon. Edward Everett fol- 
lowed. It opened — it was then fully noon — with a 
brief and eloquent review of the events, political 
and military, that culminated in the battle of Get- 
tysburg. This was followed by a carefully prepared 
description of the battle. Then, at some length, 
Mr. Everett considered the question, "Which of 
the two parties to the war is responsible for all 
this suffering, for this dreadful sacrifice of life — 
the lawful and constitutional government of the 
United States, or the ambitious men who have re- 
belled against it?" Mr. Everett was not an ex- 
tremist. Because of his strong Union sentiments 
he had been a friend to the South when others with 
whom he had been affiliated in party relations had 
found it impossible to be friendly. But coming to 
this part of his oration he stated his own convic- 
tions in these forceful words : 

**I say 'rebelled* against it, although Earl Rus- 
sell, the British Secretary of State for Foreign 



The Consecration Services 109 

Affairs, in his recent temperate and conciliatory 
speech in Scotland, seems to intimate that no pre- 
judice ought to attach to that word, inasmuch as 
our English forefathers rebelled against Charles I. 
and James II., and our American fathers rebelled 
against George III. These certainly are venerable 
precedents, but they prove only that it is just and 
proper to rebel against oppressive governments. 
They do not prove that it was just and proper for 
the son of James 11. to rebel against George I., or 
his grandson Charles Edward to rebel against 
George II. ; nor, as it seems to me, ought these dy- 
nastic struggles, little better than family quarrels, 
to be compared with this monstrous conspiracy 
against the American Union. These precedents 
do not prove that it was just and proper for the 
* disappointed great men ' of the cotton-growing 
States to rebel against 'the most beneficent govern- 
ment of which history gives us any account,' as 
the Vice-President of the Confederacy, in Novem- 
ber, i860, charged them with doing. They do not 
create a presumption even in favor of the disloyal 
slave-holders of the South, who, living under a 
government of which Mr. Jefferson Davis, in the 
session of 1860-61 , said that it was the 'best govern- 
ment ever instituted by man, unexceptionably ad- 
ministered, and under which the people have been 
prosperous beyond comparison with any other 



I lo The Cemetery 

people whose career has been recorded in history,' 
rebelled against it because their aspiring poli- 
ticians, himself among the rest, were in danger of 
losing their monopoly of its offices. What would 
have been thought, by an impartial posterity, of the 
American rebellion against George III. if the colo- 
nists had at all times been more than equally 
represented in Parliament, and James Otis and Pat- 
rick Henry and Washington and Franklin and the 
Adamses and Hancock and Jefferson, and men of 
their stamp, had for two generations enjoyed the 
confidence of the sovereign and administered the 
government of the empire? What wotild have 
been thought of the rebellion against Charles I. if 
Cromwell and the men of his school had been the 
responsible advisers of that prince from his acces- 
sion to the throne, and then, on account of a partial 
change in the ministry, had brought his head to 
the block, and involved the country in a desolating 
war, for the sake of dismembering it and establish- 
ing a new government south of the Trent? What 
would have been thought of the Whigs of 1688, if 
they had themselves composed the cabinet of 
James II. and been the advisers of the measures 
and the promoters of the policy which drove him 
into exile? The Puritans of 1640 and the Whigs 
of 1688 rebelled against arbitrary power in order 
to establish constitutional liberty. If they had 



The Consecration Services in 

risen against Charles and James because those 
monarchs favored equal rights, and in order them- 
selves 'for the first time in the history of the world ' 
to establish an oligarchy 'founded on the comer- 
stone of slavery, ' they would truly have furnished 
a precedent for the rebels of the South, but their 
cause would not have been sustained by the elo- 
quence of Pym or of Somers, nor sealed with the 
blood of Hampden or Russell. "^ 

The various arguments used in the seceding 
States in justification of the war were then ex- 
amined and refuted, and the oration closed with an 
eloquent peroration in which Mr. Everett gave fer- 
vent, forceful expression to the conviction that, 
although he was speaking while the war was still in 
progress, reunion and reconciliation would surely 
follow the conflict between the two hostile sections 
of the country, insisting that the "bonds of union 
are of perennial force and energy, while the causes 
of alienation are imaginary, factitious, and tran- 
sient." Invoking upon the honored graves near 
where he spoke heartfelt benedictions, he added : 

"God bless the Union; it is dearer to us for the 
blood of brave men which has been shed in its de- 
fence. The spots on which they stood and fell — 
these pleasant heights; the fertile plain beneath 

1 Address of Hon. Edward Everett, Boston Edition, 1864, 
pp. 61-63. 



112 The Cemetery 

them; the thriving village whose streets so lately 
rang with the strange din of war ; the fields beyond 
the ridge, where the noble Reynolds held the ad- 
vancing foe at bay, and, while he gave up his own 
life, assured by his forethought and self-sacrifice 
the triumph of the two succeeding days ; the little 
streams which wind through the hills, on whose 
banks in after-times the wondering ploughman will 
turn up, with the rude weapons of savage warfare, 
the fearful missiles of modem artillery ; Seminary 
Ridge, the Peach Orchard, Cemetery, Gulp, and 
Wolf Hills, Round Top, Little Round Top, humble 
names, henceforward dear and famous — no lapse 
of time, no distance of space, shall cause you to be 
be forgotten. ' The whole earth, ' said Pericles, as 
he stood over the remains of his fellow-citizens 
who had fallen in the first year of the Peloponne- 
sian war, ' the whole earth is the sepulchre of illus- 
trious men.' All time, he might have added, is the 
millenium of their glory. Surely I would do no in- 
justice to the other noble achievements of the war, 
which have reflected such honor on both arms of 
the service, and have entitled the armies and the 
navy of the United States, their officers and men, 
to the warmest thanks and the richest rewards 
which a grateful people can pay. But they, I am 
sure, will join us in saying, as we bid farewell to the 
dust of these martyr heroes, that wheresoever 



The Consecration Services 113 

throughout the civilized world the accounts of this 
great warfare are read, and down to the latest pe- 
riod of recorded time, in the glorious annals of our 
common country there will be no brighter page 
than that which relates to the battles of Get- 
tysburg." 1 

The long and hearty applause that followed bore 
witness to the profound impression Mr. Everett 
had made upon his hearers. "For two hours," 
says Mr. Nicolay, " he held the assembled multitude 
in rapt attention with his eloquent description 
and argument, his polished diction, his carefully 
studied and practised delivery." No other ora- 
tion of Mr. Everett's, with the exception of his 
masterly oration on Washington, will so long be 
remembered as this in the cemetery at Gettysburg. 
It was in every way worthy of the occasion. 

The following hymn, composed by B. B. French, 
Esq., was then sung by the Maryland Musical 
Association of Baltimore : 

*" T is holy ground, — 
This spot where in their graves 
We place our country's braves 
Who fell in Freedom's holy cause, 
Fighting for liberties and laws: 

Let tears abound. 

1 Address, pp., 8i, 82. 



114 The Cemetery 

"Here let them rest; 
And summer's heat and winter's cold 
Shall glow and freeze above this mould, 
A thousand years shall pass away, — 
A nation still shall mourn this clay. 

Which now is blest. 

" Here, where they fell. 
Oft shall the widow's tear be shed. 
Oft shall fond parents mourn their dead ; 
The orphan here shall kneel and weep. 
And maidens, where their lovers sleep, 

Their woes shall tell. 

" Great God in heaven! 
Shall all this sacred blood be shed? 
Shall we thus mourn our glorious dead ? 
Oh! shall the end be wrath and woe. 
The knell of Freedom's overthrow, 

A country riven? 

" It will not be ! 
We trust, O God, Thy gracious power 
To aid us in our darkest hour. 
This be our prayer, — " Father, save 
A people's freedom from its grave. 

All praise to Thee! " 

When this hymn had been sung, President 
Lincoln rose to deliver his brief address. He held 
his manuscript in his hand, but according to Mr. 
Nicolay, who sat within a few feet of the President, 



The Consecration Services 115 

he did not read from the written pages, "though 
that impression, " he says, *' was naturally left upon 
many of its auditors. That it was not a mere me- 
chanical reading is, however, more definitely con- 
firmed by the circumstance that Mr. Lincoln did 
not deliver the address in the exact form in which 
his first draft is written. ' ' As taken down in short- 
hand by the reporter for the Associated Press, and 
carried by telegraph to every part of the loyal 
States, the address was as follows: 

" Four score and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth upon this continent a new nation, 
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposi- 
tion that all men are created equal. [Applause.] 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation or any nation so conceived 
and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on 
a great battle-field of that war. We are met to 
dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of 
those who here gave their lives that that nation 
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that 
we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot 
dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow 
this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who 
struggled here have consecrated it far above our 
power to add or detract. [Applause.] The world 
will little note nor long remember what we say 
here, but it can never forget what they did here. 



ii6 The Cemetery 

[Applause.] It is for us, the living, rather to be 
dedicated here to the unfinished ^ work that they 
have thus far so nobly carried on. [Applause.] 
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 
great task remaining before us ; that from these 
honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
cause for which they here gave the last full meas- 
ure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that 
the dead shall not have died in vain [applause] ; 
that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth 
of freedom ; and that government of the people, 
by the people, and for the people shall not 
perish from the earth." [Long continued ap- 
plause.] 

The principal emendations made in the delivery 
of the address were these: ''Those who died here" 
was changed to " Those who here gave their lives. " 
" This we may in all propriety do " was changed to 
" It is altogether fitting and proper that we should 
do this." The sentence "It is rather for us the 
living we here be dedicated to the great task re- 
maining before us " became two sentences — " It 
is for us the living to be dedicated here to the un- 
finished work that they have thus far so nobly 
carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
to the great task remaining before us." The 

» In printing the address, the New York Herald had here 
"refinished" instead of "unfinished." 



The Consecration Services 117 

phrase "shall have a new birth of freedom" was 
changed as follows: "shall, under God, have a new 
birth of freedom." There were also quite a num- 
ber of verbal changes in the Associated Press report 
which were manifestly errors of the shorthand re- 
porter. The changes Mr. Lincoln himself made 
added to the beauty and dignity of the language 
employed, rounding out the address " to nearly its 
final rhetorical completeness." As Mr. Nicolay 
says: "The changes may have been prompted by 
the oratorical impulse of the moment; but it is 
more likely that in the interval of four hours occu- 
pied by coming to the grounds, and the delivery 
of Mr. Everett's oration, he fashioned the phrases 
anew in his silent thought, and had these ready for 
use when he rose to speak. "^ 

The State of Massachusetts was represented at 
the consecration services by a commission appoint- 
ed by Governor Andrew, consisting of Henry Ed- 
wards, George W. Bond, and Charles Hale. In their 
report to Governor Andrew, they gave in full Mr. 
Everett's oration and Mr. Lincoln's address. " The 
latter," they say, "which has not generally been 
printed rightly, having been marred by errors in 
telegraphing, is appended in the correct form, as 
the words actually spoken by the President, with 
great deliberation, were taken down by one of the 
1 Century Magazine, vol. xxv., p. 604. 



ti8 The Cemetery 

undersigned. " Doubtless the reference is to Mr. 
Hale, who was an experienced journalist. His 
report of the address was as follows : 

''Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers 
brought forth upon this continent a new nation, 
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposi- 
tion that all men are created equal. 

" Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation or any nation, so conceived 
and dedicated, can long endure. 

"We are met on a great battle-field of that war. 
We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final 
resting-place of those who have given their lives 
that that nation might live. 

*'It is altogether fitting and proper that we 
should do this. 

" But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we 
cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. 
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled 
here have consecrated it, far above our power to 
add or detract. 

" The world will very little note nor long remem- 
ber what we say here ; but it can never forget what 
they did here. 

** It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated, 
here, to the unfinished work that they have thus 
far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be 
here dedicated to the great task remaining before 



The Consecration Services 119 

us; that from these honored dead we take in- 
creased devotion to that cause for which they here 
gave the last full measure of devotion ; that we 
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have 
died in vain ; that the nation shall, under God, have 
a new birth of freedom, and that government of 
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not 
perish from the earth. "^ 

Mr. Lincoln's address was followed by a dirge, 
with words by Mr. James G. Percival and music 
by Mr. Alfred Delaney: 

"Oh! it is great for our country to die, whose ranks 
are contending; 
Bright is the wreath of our fame; glory awaits us 
for aye ; 
Glory that never is dim, shining on with a light never 
ending, 
Glory that never shall fade, never, oh, never away! 

"Oh! it is sweet for our country to die. How softly 
reposes 
Warrior youth on his bier, wet by the tears of his 
love, 
Wet by a mother's warm tears ; they crown him with 
garlands of roses, 
Weep and then joyously turn bright where he 
triumphs above. 

i Senate Document, No. i. 1864, p. xxii. 



I20 The Cemetery 

"Not in Elysian fields, by the still, oblivious river, 
Not in the Isles of the Blest, over the blue rolhng 
sea; 
But on Olympian heights shall dwell the devoted 
forever; 
There shall assemble the good, there the wise, 
vaHant and free. 

**0h! then how great for our country to die, in the 
front rank perish, 
Firm with our breast to the foe, victory's shouts 
in our ear; 
Long they our statues shall crown, in songs our 
memory cherish; 
We shall look forth from our heaven, pleased the 
sweet music to hear. 

The benediction was by the Rev. H. L. Baugher, 
D.D., the president of Pennsylvania College at 
Gettysburg: 

" O thou King of kings and Lord of lords, God 
of the nations of the earth, who by Thy kind provi- 
dence hast permitted us to engage in these solemn 
services, grant us thy blessing! Bless this conse- 
crated ground, and these holy graves! Bless the 
President of these United States and his Cabinet! 
Bless the governors and the representatives of 
the States here assembled with all needed to con- 
duct the affairs committed into their hands, to the 
glory of Thy great name, and the greatest good of 



The Consecration Services 121 

the people! May this great nation be delivered 
from treason and rebellion at home, and from the 
power of enemies abroad. 

"And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the love of God our heavenly Father, and 
the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all. 
Amen." 

The services connected with the consecration of 
the National Cemetery at Gettysburg thus came 
to an end. At the close of the day, the President 
and many of the other invited guests left Gettys- 
burg on a special train, which reached Washington 
about midnight. 



CHAPTER V 

IMPRESSION MADE BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S 
ADDRESS 

WITH reference to the impression made by 
President Lincoln's address at the time of 
its delivery, contrary statements have been made. 
One writer, reviewing these statements, says that 
the most plausible view is that the address was ** re- 
ceived by the assemblage in comparative silence. " 
But the Associated Press report shows that five 
times it was interrupted by ''applause," and that 
at the close there was ''long-continued applause. '* 
The Hon. Ward H. Lamon says that after the de- 
livery of the address Mr. Lincoln regretted that it 
had not been more carefully prepared. " Lamon," 
he said, "that speech won't scour. It is a flat 
failure. The people are disappointed." 

Also, according to Mr. Lamon, Mr. Everett and 
Secretary Seward thought the address a failure. 
It happens, however, that a note written by Mr. 
Everett to President Lincoln with reference to his 
address has been preserved. It was written the 
day after the consecration services, and was as 
follows : 

122 



President Lincoln^s Address 123 

** Not wishing to intrude upon your privacy, 
when you must be much engaged, I beg leave 
in this way to thank you very sincerely for your 
great thoughtfulness for my daughter's accommo- 
dation on the platform yesterday, and much kind- 
ness otherwise to me and mine at Gettysburg. 
Permit me also to express my great admiration of 
the thoughts expressed by you, with such eloquent 
simplicity and appropriateness, at the consecra- 
tion of the cemetery. I should be glad if I could 
flatter myself that I came as near to the central 
idea of the occasion in my two hours as you did 
in two minutes. My son, who parted from me at 
Baltimore, and my daughter concur in this senti- 
ment. '* 

To this very complimentary note Mr. Lincoln 
replied on the same day: ''Your kind note of to- 
day is received. In our respective parts yesterday 
you could not have been excused to make a short 
address, nor I a long one. I am pleased to know 
that, in your judgment, the little I did say was 
not entirely a failure. Of course I knew Mr. Everett 
would not fail ; and yet, while the whole discourse 
was eminently satisfactory, and will be of great 
value, there were passages in it which transcended 
my expectations. The point made against the 
theory of the General Government being only an 
agency, whose principals are the States, was new to 



124 The Cemetery 

me, and, as I think, is one of the best arguments 
for the national supremacy. The tribute to our 
noble women for their angel ministry to the suffer- 
ing soldiers surpasses in its way, as do the subjects 
of it, whatever has gone before." 

The correspondent of the Boston Daily Adver- 
tiser, probably Hon. Charles Hale, who was present 
at the consecration services as one of the commis- 
sioners appointed by Governor Andrew to repre- 
sent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in a 
commimication to that paper giving an account 
of the proceedings, said : " Mr. Lincoln's dedicatory 
remarks created a most favorable impression. 
They were delivered in a clear, full voice and 
seemed to be emphatically the right words in the 
right place." ^ 

The Massachusetts Commissioners, in their re- 
port of the proceedings made to Governor Andrew, 
said that Mr. Lincoln's address '' made a profound 
impression." 2 

The members of the joint special committee of 
the City of Boston, having in charge the burial of 
the Massachusetts dead at Gettysburg, attended 
the consecration services, and in their report they 
said: ''Perhaps nothing in the whole proceedings 
made so deep an impression on the vast assem- 

» Boston Daily Advertiser, Nov. 23, 1863. 
2 Senate Document, No. i, 1864. 



President Lincoln's Address 125 

blage, or has conveyed to the country in so concise 
a form the lesson of the hour, as the remarks of the 
President. Their simpHcity and force make them 
worthy of a prominence among the utterances from 
high places."^ 

These statements, recorded at the time by per- 
sons present at the consecration services, would 
seem to indicate that Mr. Lincoln had reason 
to be satisfied with the impression made by his 
address. 

1 Report of the Joint Special Committee ^ Boston, 1863. 



CHAPTER VI 

PRESIDENT Lincoln's revision of his address 

A FEW days after Mr. Lincoln's return to Wash- 
ington, he received from Mr. Wills a note 
saying : "On behalf of the States interested in the 
National Cemetery here, I request of you the origi- 
nal manuscript of the dedicatory remarks delivered 
by you here last Thursday. We desire them to be 
placed with the correspondence and other papers 
connected with the project." 

To comply with this request, says Mr. Nicolay,^ 
the President turned to his original manuscript, 
and comparing it with the press reports, he dis- 
covered variations that rendered the first incom- 
plete and the others imperfect. " By his direction, 
therefore, his secretaries made copies of the Asso- 
ciated Press report as it was printed in several 
prominent newspapers. Comparing these with 
his original draft, and with his own fresh recollec- 
tion of the form in which he delivered it, he made 
a new autograph copy — a careful and deliberate 

i Century Magazine, vol. xxv., pp. 604, 605. 
126 



Lincoln's Revision of his Address 127 

revision — which has become the standard and 
authentic text." ^ 

This revision of the Gettysburg address, however, 
did not appear in the published proceedings at the 
consecration services. A volume published early 
in 1864 by Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 
for the benefit of the cemetery monument fimd, 
and containing "an account of the origin of the 
undertaking and of the arrangement of the ceme- 
tery grounds, " as well as the oration by Mr. Ever- 
ett, the address by the President, etc., included 
materials evidently furnished by Mr. Wills, such 
as the original design for a cemetery and his cor- 
respondence with reference to the establishment 
of the cemetery and its consecration. In this vol- 
ume the President's address is in the form in which 
it was sent out by the Associated Press, and not 
in that of the revision, as Mr. Nicolay seems to 
have supposed. 2 

Concerning this volume, Mr. Everett wrote to 
.President Lincoln January 30, 1864: ''I shall have 
the honor of forwarding to you by express, to-day 
or on Monday next, a copy of the authorized edi- 
tion of my Gettysburg address and of the remarks 
made by yourself, and the other matters connected 
with the ceremonial of the dedication of the 

1 For this revised version of the address, see p. 131. 

2 Century Magazine, vol. xxv., p. 604. 



128 The Cemetery 

cemetery. It appeared, owing to unavoidable de- 
lays, only yesterday. I have promised to give the 
manuscript of my address to Mrs. Governor Fish 
of New York, who is at the head of the Ladies 
Committee of the Metropolitan Fair. It would add 
very greatly to its value if I could bind up with it 
the manuscript of your dedicatory remarks, if you 
happen to have preserved it. I would further ven- 
ture to request, that you would allow me also to 
bind up in the volume the very obliging letter of the 
2oth of November, 1863, which you did me the 
favor to write to me. I shall part with it with 
much reluctance, and I shrink a little from the ap- 
parent indelicacy of giving some publicity to a 
letter highly complimentary to myself. But as 
its insertion would greatly enhance the value 
of the volume when sold at the fair, I shall, if I 
have your kind permission, waive all other con- 
siderations." 

To this request Mr. Lincoln, under date of Feb- 
ruary 4, 1864, replied as follows: ''Yours of Janu- 
ary 30, was received four days ago ; and since then 
the address mentioned has arrived. Thank you 
for it. I send herewith the manuscript of my 
remarks at Gettysburg, which, with my note to you 
of November 20, you are at liberty to use for the 
benefit of our soldiers, as you have requested. " 

Other requests came to Mr. Lincoln for manu- 



Lincoln's Revision of his Address 129 

script copies of his Gettysburg address. These, 
says Mr. Nicolay, were made with painstaking care 
and corresponded with the revision of the address 
mentioned above. Such a copy was made by Mr. 
Lincoln for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Fair in Balti- 
more, which was opened April 18, 1864. Mr. Nic- 
olay tells the story in these words : 

" On the 5th of February a committee consisting 
of the Hon. John P. Kennedy, author of Swallow 
Barn and other novels, and Col. Alexander Bliss, 
then serving on the military stafE of General 
Schenck, commanding at Baltimore, sent a 
circular to prominent American authors, soliciting 
from each a page or two of autograph manuscript 
to be pubHshed in facsimile in a small quarto 
volume and to be sold for the benefit of the fair. 
Some time in the month of February George 
Bancroft, the historian, who was in Washington, 
made verbal application to the President on 
their behalf for an autograph copy of his Get- 
tysburg address, to be included in the volume. 
Mr. Lincoln wrote and sent them a copy ; and when 
it was discovered that it was written on both sides 
of a letter sheet, and on that account was not avail- 
able to be used in the process of lithographing, he 
made them a second copy, written only on one side, 
of the letter pages. This was sent to the commit- 
tee on March 11, 1864, and Mr. Bancroft was per- 
9 



I30 The Cemetery 

mitted to keep the first; which appears recently 
[1894] to have passed, with other papers of the 
great historian, into the possession of the Lenox 
Library. The Baltimore Committee had the other 
duly lithographed and printed in their volume, ^ 
and it was sold at the fair. The first facsimile in 
the book of two hundred pages is that of the Star- 
Spangled Banner, the second Abraham Lincoln's 
Gettysburg address, and the last Home, Sweet 
Home; while between them are autograph specimen 
pages from the writings of nearly a hundred Amer- 
ican authors. It is this Baltimore facsimile which 
by frequent photographs, and therefore exact re- 
production, has properly become the standard text. 
It is this Baltimore facsimile which Nicolay and 
Hay inserted in their life of Lincoln in the chapter 
on the Gettysburg Address. 2 

A comparison of this revised autographic copy 
with the Associated Press report shows that Mr. 
Lincoln in the revision made thirteen changes in 
all. Seven of these were merely a return to the 
words used in the first draft of the address. '' Are 
met" was changed back to ''have come"; "the" 
to "a"; "of "to "for"; "power "to "poor power"; 
"the" to "these"; governments" to "govem- 

1 Autograph Leaves of our Country s Authors. Baltimore: 
Gushing and Bailey, 1864, 

2 Vol. viii., pp. 200, 201. 



Lincoln's Revision of his Address 131 

ment"; and "and" was omitted in the last sen- 
tence as in the original draft. The remaining six 
changes were rhetorical emendations. "Upon'* 
was changed to "on"; "it" to "that field"; "they 
have" to "they who fought here have "; " carried 
on" to "advanced"; "they here gave" to "they 
gave"; and "shall under God" was made to read 
"under God shall." 

The original manuscript of this final revision of 
President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is in the 
possession of the family of the late Hon. John Hay. 
Near the close of 1904, and not long before Secre- 
tary Hay sailed for Europe in search of health, the 
writer of these lines received from him an answer 
to an inquiry giving some of the facts embodied in 
these pages. About that time, as a preface to the 
revised edition of Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, Col- 
onel John P. Nicholson, chairman of the Gettys- 
burg Battle-field Commission, had printed Mr. 
Lincoln's address from Col. Hay's copy, word for 
word, line for line, and paragraph for paragraph. 
The punctuation also was accurately copied. As 
printed by Colonel Nicholson, the address is as 
follows : 

''Four score and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth on this continent, a new nation, con- 
ceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition 
that all men are created equal. 



132 The Cemetery 

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived 
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on 
a great battle-field of that war. We have come to 
dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting 
place for those who here gave their lives that that 
nation might live. It is altogether fitting and 
proper that we should do this. 

*'But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we 
cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow— this ground. 
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled 
here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power 
to add or detract. The world will little note, nor 
long remember what we say here, but it can never 
forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, 
rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly 
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
to the great task remaining before us — that from 
these honored dead we take increased devotion to 
that cause for which they gave the last full measure 
of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these 
dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, 
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and 
that government of the people, by the people, 
for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

It is in this authoritatively attested revised form, 
therefore, that the Gettysburg address should be 



Lincoln's Revision of his Address 133 

handed down to future generations. The address 
has already long been recognized as one of the 
world's masterpieces in oratory. The sublimity 
of its thought is equalled only by the simplicity of 
the language which Mr. Lincoln employed to give 
that thought adequate expression. Undoubtedly, 
after receiving Mr. Wills 's invitation, the Presi- 
dent, as he found opportunity, revolved in his mind 
the ideas embodied in the address. Even the first 
draft of the address was a noble expression of these 
ideas. Only a few touches here and there were re- 
quired in order to give to Mr. Lincoln's words their 
proper rhetorical form, so completely had the 
thoughts of the address been moulded in the 
author's mind in his meditation upon them. 

It is true, as Mr.Lincoln said, that what the brave 
soldiers of the Army of the Potomac did at Gettys- 
burg will never be forgotten. From no other lips 
than those of one so providentially raised up to 
direct the affairs of the nation in a great crisis of 
its history could these words so fittingly have come. 
No one knew better than Mr. Lincoln what the war 
meant to the people of the United States. The 
issues that were fought out in the Civil War could 
not be avoided. The pain and suffering begotten 
in such a conflict Mr. Lincohi felt. The consecra- 
tion services at Gettysburg only made more real to 
him the fearful cost of the war. But he saw, aud 



134 The Cemetery 

he saw clearly, that only through conflict, and the 
pain and suffering such conflict always entails, 
could "a new birth of freedom" for the nation be 
secured. Much as he deprecated war, he could 
not but look upon it as 

** God's most dreaded instrument 
In working out a pure intent. " 

And so, as he spoke, his face was toward the future, 
and he would anew dedicate himself— he would 
have his countrymen anew dedicate themselves 
— "to the unfinished work" "thus far so nobly 
advanced" — a work which happily he lived to see 
accomplished in the surrender of Lee's army at 
Appomattox. The dead at Gettysburg, and on 
many another battle-field of the Rebellion, had 
not "died in vain." 

It has been said that the closing words of the 
Gettysburg address ^ were borrowed from a speech 
made by Theodore Parker at the New England 
Anti-Slavery Convention in Boston, May 29, 1850, 
in which Mr. Parker used these words : "A democ- 
racy — that is, a government of all the people, by all 
the people, for all the people." But others had 
used like words before. In The Advancement of So- 
ciety in Knowledge and Religion, by James Douglas, 

1 "The last phrase is one that the world had been working 
at, and Lincoln had marked something very much like it in 
one of Theodore Parker's lectures; but it was chosen for this 
final place with literary skill." — Norman Hapgood in Abra- 
ham Lincoln, the Man and the People, pp. 338, 339. 



Lincoln's Revision of his Address 135 

Edinburgh, 1830, 3d edition (ist edition in 1825) 
occur these words (p. 70) : " The depressed vassal 
of the old Continent becomes co-legislator, and 
co-ruler, in a government where all power is 
from the people, and in the people, and for the 
people." Webster also, in his reply to Hayne in 
the Senate of the United States, January 26, 1830, 
used these words : " The people's government, made 
for the people, made by the people, and answer- 
able to the people. " Likewise Lieutenant M. F. 
Maury, in a report on the subject of Fortifications, 
made in August, 185 1 — in a little more than a year 
after Theodore Parker delivered the speech to 
which reference in made above — ^used similar lan- 
guage: "Unlike Europe, there are no disaffected 
people in this country for a foe to tamper with. The 
government is by the people, for the people, and 
with the people." As Mr. Nicolay says:^ "The 
mere arrangement of these quotations in their 
chronological order shows how unjust is any infer- 
ence that Mr. Lincoln took his sentence at second 
hand. There is no more reason to suppose that 
he copied his phrase from Theodore Parker, than 
there is that Parker copied his from Daniel Web- 
ster, or Webster his from James Douglas. All 
these are plainly coincidences, growing out of the 
very nature of the topic." 

1 Century Magazine, vol. xxv., p. 608. 



CHAPTER VII 

PROVISION FOR THE COMPLETION AND MAIN- 
TENANCE OF THE CEMETERY 

IT still remained for those interested in the Na- 
^ tional Cemetery at Gettysburg to provide for 
the expenses already incurred, also to complete 
the work so well begun, and to make provision for 
the proper adornment and care of the groimds. 
Governor Curtin, accordingly, requested the gov- 
ernors of the several States having soldiers buried 
in the cemetery to appoint commissioners to meet 
in Harrisburg, December 17, 1863. In response 
to this invitation, the following commissioners 
appeared: Hon. B. W. Norris, Maine; Hon. L. B. 
Mason, New Hampshire; Mr. Henry Edwards, 
Massachusetts; Mr. Alfred Coit, Connecticut; Hon. 
Levi Scobey, New Jersey; Mr. David Wills, Col. 
James Worral, Pennsylvania; Col. John S. Berry, 
Maryland ; Mr. L. W. Brown, Col. Gordon Lofland, 
Ohio; Col. John G. Stephenson, Indiana; and Mr. 
W. G. Selleck, Wisconsin. Mr. Wills was made 
chairman of the meeting and Mr. Selleck, secretary. 
At this meeting certain suggestions were sub- 
mitted to the commissioners. One of these was 

136 



Provision for Maintenance 137 

that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, for the 
States having soldiers buried in the National Cem- 
etery, should hold in trust the title to the land 
which had been purchased and consecrated as the 
burial-place of the Union dead at Gettysburg. It 
was also suggested that the Legislature of Pennsyl- 
vania should be requested to create a corporation 
to be managed by trustees, one to be appointed 
by each of the governors of the following States : 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, 
West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- 
gan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; also of such 
other States as might afterward desire to be 
represented in this corporation, said corpora- 
tion to have exclusive control of the National 
Cemetery. 

The estimated expenses for the completion of 
the cemetery were as follows : 



Enclosing grounds 
Burial expenses and superintending 
Headstones ..... 
Laying out grounds and planting trees 
Lodge ..... 

Monument ..... 



$15,000 
6,000 

10,000 
5,000 
2,500 

25,000 



Total $63,500 



138 The Cemetery 

The several States were asked to appropriate a sum 
of money, to be determined by a division of the 
estimated expenses according to representation in 
Congress, to be expended in defraying the cost of 
removing and re-interring the dead, and of com- 
pleting the work connected with the cemetery un- 
der the direction of the cemetery corporation. It 
was also suggested that, when this work was com- 
pleted, the grounds should be kept in order from a 
fund created by annual appropriations made by 
the States, and represented in the cemetery cor- 
poration in proportion to their representation in 
Congress. 

The national monument was to be a con- 
spicuous feature of the cemetery, and a 
committe was now appointed to procure de- 
signs for a monument worthy of the heroic 
dead. 

The work of exhuming and bringing together in 
the cemetery the bodies of the Union soldiers, com- 
menced on October 27, 1863, was not completed 
until March 18, 1864. The total number of remov- 
als at that time was 3512; of these, 979 were 
''unknown." Other bodies were subsequently 
found, and in 1865 the State of Pennsylvania 
published a Hst, by States, of all the burials 
up to that time. The summary was as fol- 
lows: 




Monument in National Cemetery 



Provision for Maintenance 139 



Maine . 


104 


Ohio . . . 


• 131 


New Hampshire 


49 


Indiana 


80 


Vermont 


61 


Illinois . 


6 


Massachusetts . 


. 159 


Michigan 


• 171 


Rhode Island . 


12 


Wisconsin . 


73 


Connecticut 


22 


Minnesota . 


52 


New York . 


866 


U. S. Regulars 


. 138 


New Jersey 


78 


Unknown — Lot 








North . . 


. 411 


Pennsylvania . 


526 


Unknown — Lot 








South . . . 


. 425 


Delaware . 


15 


Unknown — Lot 




Maryland . 


22 


Inner Circle . 


. 143 


West Virginia . 


II 


Total . . . 


3555 



The design for a national monument in the cem- 
etery, to be executed by Mr. J. G. Batterson, of 
Hartford, Conn., was accepted, and the comer 
stone was laid July 4, 1865, with an oration by 
Ma j. -Gen. 0.0. Howard. At the dedication of the 
monument, July i, 1869, the prayer was by Henry 
Ward Beecher. Hon. Oliver P. Morton delivered the 
oration. There was also an address by Maj.-Gen. 
George G. Meade, and an ode by Bayard Taylor. 
The monument is sixty feet high, and is crowned 
with a colossal statue of Liberty, standing on a 
three-quarters globe. In her right hand the goddess 
holds the victor's laurel wreath, while with her left 



140 The Cemetery 

hand she gathers up the folds of the national flag 
under which the victory at Gettysburg was won. At 
the four angles of the massive pedestal, twenty-five 
feet square at the base, are four buttresses upon 
which rest allegorical figures representing War, 
History, Peace, and Plenty. On a bronze tablet, 
on the side of the monument facing the town 
cemetery, President Lincoln's Gettysburg address 
is recorded in full. 



PART III 

THE NATIONAL PARK 



THE NATIONAL PARK 



CHAPTER I 

WORK OF THE GETTYSBURG BATTLE-FIELD 
MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION 

PUBLIC interest in Gettysburg was not con- 
fined to the cemetery, to which the dead of the 
battle were brought and tenderly, lovingly, laid to 
rest. Very early, even before the Civil War closed, 
steps were taken for the preservation of the then 
existing memorials of the great conflict of July 1,2, 
and 3, 1863, and for the erection of such added 
memorials as might afterward be reared in patri- 
otic remembrance of the victory there won. 

The Legislature of Pennsylvania, by an act ap- 
proved April 30, 1864, incorporated the Gettysburg 
Battle-field Memorial Association. The object of 
the Association, as set forth in the act of incorpora- 
tion, was '' to hold and preserve the battle-grounds 
of Gettysburg, on which were fought the actions of 
the first, second, and third days of July, Anno 
Domini one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
three, with the natural and artificial defences, as 
they were at the time of said battle, and by such 

143 



144 The National Park 

perpetuation, and such memorial structures as a 
generous and patriotic people may aid to erect, to 
commemorate the heroic deeds, the struggles 
and the triumphs of their brave defenders. " 

For the accomplishment of this object, the Asso- 
ciation was given power '' to take, and to hold, by 
gift, grant, devise, purchase, or lease, such personal 
property and effects and all such portions of said 
battle-grounds as may be necessary, or convenient, 
to promote and accomplish the object of its incor- 
poration ; to enclose, and perpetuate, said grounds 
and defences ; to keep them in repair and a state of 
preservation; to construct and maintain ways 
and roads ; to improve and ornament the grounds ; 
and to erect and promote the erection, by voluntary 
contributions, of structures and works of art and 
taste thereon, adapted to designate the spots of 
special interest ; to commemorate the great deeds 
of valor, endurance, and noble self-sacrifice ; and 
to perpetuate the memory of the heroes, and the 
signal events, which render these battle-grounds 
illustrious. " 

A supplemental act, approved April 24, 1866, 
authorized the president and directors of the Asso- 
ciation, "by themselves, committees, engineer, 
surveyor, superintendent, or agents by them ap- 
pointed, to survey, locate, and lay out roads and 
avenues from any public road or roads in the vicin- 




u 

B 

(0 

O 

li 

.2 



Work of the Memorial Association 145 

ity of Gettysburg, or of said battle-grounds, to 
and upon, and also in and through, any portion or 
portions of said battle-grounds, not, however, pass- 
ing through any dwelling-house, or any burying- 
ground, or any place of public worship, and to open 
and fence, or otherwise enclose, such roads and 
avenues, the latter of a width not exceeding three 
hundred feet; and the same maybe laid out so as 
to embrace any breast- works, or lines of defences, 
or positions of the forces engaged in the battle 
of Gettysburg, and with power to plant rows or 
colonnades of trees upon said roads and avenues. '* 
Before entering upon and taking possession of land 
for these roads or avenues, however, the Asso- 
ciation was to make ample compensation to the 
owner or owners ; and in case the Association could 
not agree with the owner or owners, like proceed- 
ings for ascertaining and recovering damages on 
account of taking and appropriating such lands 
should be had as are provided for land-owners 
in ascertaining and recovering damages from rail- 
road companies. 

In 1867 the State of Pennsylvania appropriated 
three hundred dollars " to be applied to the purchase 
of portions of the battle-grounds, and the general 
purposes " for which the Memorial Association was 
incorporated. It is thought that this money was 

expended in the purchase of that portion of Gulp's 
10 



14^ The National Park 

Hill upon which the breastworks were still stand- 
ing; also for the purchase of East Cemetery Hill, 
where Stewart's, Reynolds', Ricketts', and Wied- 
rich's batteries were placed at the time of the bat- 
tle; and also for the purchase of a piece of Little 
Round Top. 

Unfortunately there are no records of the earlier 
meetings of the Association. Such records with 
reference to the little that was done by the Associa- 
tion, in the beginning of its invaluable work, would 
now have very great interest. The first meeting of 
the Association of which any record remains was 
held June lo, 1872. Governor John W. Geary 
was elected president, David McConaughy vice- 
president, John M. Krauth secretary, and George 
Arnold treasurer. The fact that at this meeting 
Mr. Arnold submitted a report is an indication that 
he had served the Association as treasurer before 
his election in 1872. 

Mr. McConaughy, who was appointed counsel and 
actuary, was requested to secure from the States 
interested in the work of the Association appro- 
priations to defray the expenses of carrying out the 
plans and purposes thus far formed. The officers 
of the Association, also, were instructed to make 
application to the proper authorities in Washing- 
ton for condemned ordnance to mark the position 
of the Union artillery during the battle. In 1873 



Work of the Memorial Association 147 

Congress responded to this request by donating to 
the Association a number of cannon and cannon 
balls for the purpose made known in the request. 

But the activity of the Association thus in- 
dicated seems not to have been permanent. Meas- 
ures taken for the purpose of awakening in some 
of the States a deeper interest in the work of the 
Association failed to secure needed assistance in 
carrying forward the work already outlined. There 
was an election of officers each year, but 
between August 26, 1874, and July 7, 1879, no 
meetings of the board were held. As far as was 
possible, however, the work of the Association was 
cared for meanwhile by Mr. David McConaughy. 

When the Board met in the summer of 1879, 
there was evidence of a revival of interest in the 
work of the Association. In the previous summer 
the Pennsylvania Department of the Grand Army 
of the Republic encamped on East Cemetery Hill. 
During the encampment old memories were awak- 
ened, and what had already been done in purchas- 
ing land at important points on the battle-field, 
and in preserving the lines of works used at the 
time of the battle, kindled in many minds a desire 
to continue the work so well begun, and to carry 
out more fully the objects of the Association as in- 
dicated in the act of incorporation. Especially 
strong was the impression made during the encamp- 



148 The National Park 

ment upon the Assistant Adjutant General of the 
Department, Mr. J. M. Vanderslice of Philadelphia. 
In the Battle-field Memorial Association he found 
at hand an instrument for the accomplishment of 
a great and important undertaking. An examina- 
tion of the act of incorporation disclosed the fact 
that the objects of such an Association had been 
rightly conceived. All that was necessary in order 
to make the Association successful in the task thus 
indicated was ample financial support ; and in the 
belief that the Department could easily furnish 
such support, he sought to enlist the interest of his 
comrades in all parts of the State. Circulars were 
prepared, and these were forwarded to the various 
posts connected with the Department. It was 
at the suggestion of Mr. Vanderslice also that 
General Strong Vincent Post, No. 67, of Erie, Pa., 
erected during the encampment a tablet on Little 
Round Top to mark the spot where General 
Vincent was killed. This is said to have been the 
first memorial of any kind erected on the Gettys- 
burg battle-field outside of the cemetery. Colonel 
Fred Taylor Post, No. 19, of Philadelphia, at the 
same time placed in front of Round Top a small 
tablet to indicate the spot where Colonel Taylor 
fell at the head of the Bucktail Rifle Regiment. 

As yet no regiment had erected on the battle- 
field any memorial of its service on those never-to- 



Work of the Memorial Association 149 

be-forgotten days, July 1-3, 1863. But in the 
following year, 1879, the Second Massachusetts In- 
fantry affixed to a large boulder, across the swale 
known as Spangler's meadow, a bronze tablet re- 
citing in outline the facts connected with the 
gallant charge made by the regiment, July 3d, 
on the enemy's line at the base of Gulp's Hill 
opposite, in which the regiment lost four officers 
and forty-one enlisted men killed or mortally 
wounded, and six officers and eighty-four en- 
listed men wounded. The erection of this mon- 
ument, with its simple but thrilling story, was a 
suggestion that did not fail at once to make 
an impression upon the survivors of other regi- 
ments that had a part in the victory won at 
Gettysburg. The attempt to enlist the support 
of the Grand Army in the w^ork of the Memorial 
Association was successful. Shares of the stock 
of the Association were purchased by Grand Army 
posts and by individuals connected with the organ- 
ization ; and at a meeting of the stockholders held 
in Gettysburg, June 21, 1880, the officers chosen 
largely represented the Department of Pennsyl- 
vania. With the money received from the sale 
of stock, the debts of the Association were paid, 
and there remained in the treasury a balance of 

$5i5-97- 

The Association now entered upon a new and 



150 The National Park 

more active period of service in carrying out the 
objects for which it was organized. Sergeant N. G. 
Wilson, Superintendent of the National Cemetery, 
was made General Superintendent of the grounds 
of the Association, embracing pieces of land upon 
Gulp's Hill, East Cemetery Hill, and Little Round 
Top. In 1880 the Association appointed a com- 
mittee to secure appropriations from the States 
having troops in the battle, in order to make addi- 
tional purchases of land for the purpose of laying 
out avenues, and so making more accessible to 
visitors the various parts of the battle-field. This 
effort was so successful that at a meeting of the 
Association in 1 881 it was voted to open an ave- 
nue sixty feet wide (except where the width was 
increased to embrace important points) from the 
Taneytown road to Little Round Top. It was 
found, however, that the terms of some of the land- 
owners were such as to be regarded as exorbitant ; 
and it became necessary to resort to condemna- 
tion proceedings, in accordance with an act of the 
Legislature of Pennsylvania. 

An act of Congress, approved June 9, 1880, made 
provision for a compilation of all available data 
used in locating troops on the engineer's maps of 
the battle; also for the preparation of diagrams 
showing the position of troops during the battle; 
also for the compensation of Mr. John B. Bachelder 



Work of the Memorial Association 151 

for services, and maps and the manuscript de- 
scribing the same. 

Until 1882 the interest of Confederate survivors 
of the battle was confined largely to the removal 
of their dead comrades to Virginia and other 
Southern States, 

** As if the quiet bones were blest 
Amid familiar names to rest, 
And in the places of their youth. " 

At length, however, a delegation of Confederates 
visited Gettysburg for the purpose of locating the 
position of certain Confederate commands — a ser- 
vice in which they were followed by members of 
other Confederate commands in the Army of 
Northern Virginia. 

The importance of securing land on the battle 
lines was kept steadily in view by the Association. 
In 1882 the Wheatfield, and the rest of Little Round 
Top still in private hands, were purchased, and an 
avenue was constructed from East Cemetery Hill 
to Culp's Hill, and the ground occupied by the 
Twelfth Corps on the extreme right of the Union 
position. The members of the Board of Directors 
of the Association at this time were mostly Pennsyl- 
vanians. It was now thought that the wider in- 
terests of the Association would be advanced by 
giving representatives from other States a place on 
the Board, and this was done. In 1883 Mr. John B. 



152 The National Park 

Bachelder of Massachusetts, who for a long time 
had given much study to everything connected 
with the battle-field, was elected Superintendent 
of Tablets and Legends. It was at this time, also, 
that a rule was adopted requiring that all inscrip- 
tions to be affixed to memorials upon the battle- 
field should first be submitted to the directors of 
the Association. 

Several regiments, in 1881, had erected monu- 
ments commemorating their services at the time 
of the battle. The State of Pennsylvania in 
the following year erected sign-boards, indicating 
the position of the regiments of the State on the 
Gettysburg battle-field. Minnesota, also, made an 
appropriation for the erection of similar sign- 
boards. These memorials were of a temporary 
character only, but they made very plain the use- 
fulness of such helps to visitors, and they soon led 
to the preparation and erection of more enduring 
memorials. In this advanced movement Massa- 
chusetts was again at the front, the Massachusetts 
regiments being the first to receive an appropria- 
tion from the State for this purpose. This was in 
1883 and the sum of five thousand dollars made it 
possible for the erection of monuments for all of 
the regiments at Gettysburg from that State, each 
regiment receiving an appropriation of five hun- 
dred dollars. 



Work of the Memorial Association 153 

The services of Gregg's cavalry division in pro- 
tecting the Union right at Gettysburg, July 3d 
were fittingly recognized in 1884, by the proposal 
of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry to erect a 
monument on the field where Stuart was so gal- 
lantly and successfully repulsed in his attempt to 
reach the rear of the Union lines during Pickett's 
charge. The Memorial Association welcomed the 
proposal, and purchased land on which to erect 
the monument, together with the right of access to 
the same. 

In 1884, also, it was decided by the Board to 
construct an avenue from Oak Ridge to the ex- 
treme left of the advanced position held by the 
First Corps on July i, 1863, thus making accessible 
the line occupied by the Union forces on that day. 

Added avenues were opened from time to time 
as additional land was secured. As the number of 
visitors to the battle-field increased, these im- 
proved facilities for reaching all the more promi- 
nent parts of the lines of conflict were so much 
appreciated that the necessity of still further at- 
tention to the matter was felt more and more year 
by year. 

With reference to the monuments, important 
action was taken by the Board in 1885 when it 
was voted that regiments erecting such memorials 
upon the battle-field should be required to mark 



154 The National Park 

the flanks of their positions whenever practicable ; 
also in the following year, when the Secretary of 
War was requested not to permit the erection of 
any regimental monument or memorial in the 
cemetery until the location and inscription had 
been approved by the Association. 

An inquiry in 1887, as to the cost of opening an 
avenue sixty feet wide on Seminary Ridge along 
the Confederate line, led to important results. 

During this year, also, the land and house where 
General Meade had his headquarters during the 
battle were purchased, and authority was given 
for the erection of a marker indicating the spot 
where, at the time of Pickett's charge, the Con- 
federate General Armistead fell mortallv wounded 
within the Union lines. 

The various States having soldiers in the battle 
of Gettysburg were now fully interested in the 
plans and purposes of the Association, and espe- 
cially in the work of worthily commemorating the 
services of their own organizations, for which, 
from time to time, generous appropriations were 
made in aid of the work. Very naturally the in- 
scriptions on some of the earlier monuments, 
especially as to the casualties sustained in the 
battle, were not always found to be accurate; 
and, in 1887, an order was adopted instructing 
the Superintendent of Tablets — Mr. Bachelder 



Work of the Memorial Association 155 

retained this position until September 16, 1887 — 
to have the inscriptions on all of the monuments 
conform in the matter of casualties to the official 
records of the battle in the possession of the War 
Department. At this time, also, regiments erect- 
ing monuments on the ground of the Association 
were required to locate them in the position 
held by them in the line of battle, but they were 
not prohibited from erecting such markers as 
would serve to indicate secondary or advanced 
positions, occupied during the three days' fight. 
Mr. J. M. Vanderslice now succeeded Mr. Bach- 
elder as Superintendent of Tablets and Legends. 
At this time the committee on the location of 
monuments was enlarged so as to consist of five 
members, and to this committee, of which Mr- 
Vanderslice was made a member, was assigned the 
duty of passing judgment upon the inscription as 
well as the location of monuments. 

Rules regulating the erection of monuments and 
memorials were adopted by the Board July 3, 
1888. These required that all monuments or 
memorials hereafter erected must be of granite or 
of real bronze ; that on the front of each monument 
must be the number of the regiment or battery, 
State, brigade, division, and corps, in letters not 
less than four inches long, and, in addition thereto, 
the time the regiment held the position, and a 



156 The National Park 

brief statement of any important movement it 
made; that if the regiment was actively engaged, 
its effective strength and casualties must be given, 
which must agree with the official records of the 
War Department ; that if the regiment was in re- 
serve it should be so stated ; that if the same posi- 
tion was held by other troops, or if the command 
occupied more than one important position, the 
inscription should explain it; that all lettering 
must be deeply and distinctly cut; that any statue 
or figure of a soldier must be so placed as to face 
the enemy's line ; that the monument must be on 
the line of battle held by the brigade unless the 
regiment was detached, and, if possible, the right 
and left flanks of the regiment or battery must be 
marked with stones not less than two feet in 
height; that if the same line was held by other 
troops, the monuments must be placed in the order 
in which the several commands occupied the 
grounds, the first being on the first line, the second 
at least twenty feet in the rear of it, and so on, the 
inscriptions explaining the movements. 

Important recommendations and suggestions 
were added to these rules, and the whole were 
printed and sent to all State commissions ap- 
pointed with reference to the erection of monu- 
ments upon the Gettysburg battle-field. 

Very naturally on the part of visitors to the 



Work of the Memorial Association 157 

battle-ground interest was shown not only in ex- 
amining the Union line, but in the location and. 
movements of the Confederate troops. In the 
location of the various organizations connected 
with the Army of the Potomac, therefore, it be- 
came evident to those engaged in the work that it 
was also desirable that the Confederate lines 
should be marked and made accessible. But this 
required the aid of the national government; and 
at a meeting held September 11, 1888, it was 
voted: ''That it is the sense of this Association 
that the Congress of the United States should 
authorize the purchase of such land as may be 
necessary to open avenues and driveways along 
the whole line of battle occupied by the Army of 
Northern Virginia during the battle of Gettys- 
burg, and that the positions occupied by the 
several divisions, brigades and regiments of such 
army should be marked with tablets." 

The struggle to obtain funds for the proper exe- 
cution of the plans of the Association was such, 
it was not imtil 1890 that the committee on the 
purchase of land was authorized to add to the 
property-holdings of the Association so much of 
the Peach Orchard as was necessary in providing 
a place for the monuments which the regiments 
that fought there desired to erect. 

The plan for the High- Water Mark monument 



158 The National Park 

and tablets at the copse of trees, toward which 
Pickett was directed to move in making his mem- 
orable charge, was submitted by Mr. Bachelder, 
May 10, 1 89 1. This is one of the most noteworthy 
monuments on the field. It is a massive granite 
structure with polished faces, the whole resting 
upon a broad granite platform, and sustaining a 
large open volume in bronze upon whose ample 
pages are recorded the names of all the commands 
— ^Union on one page, Confederate on the other — 
that had a part in making and receiving what is 
commonly known as ** Pickett's charge." The 
plan was approved, and the cost of the monument 
was defrayed by the Union States having soldiers 
in the line on either side of the copse on that 
memorable day. 

But the resources of the Memorial Association 
were not adequate for meeting the demands con- 
stantly made upon it in order to care for those 
parts of the ground now in its possession; and 
there was need that the work should be still further 
extended so as to include the whole battle-field. 
Accordingly, at the meeting held May 10, 1891, a 
committee was appointed consisting of Generals 
Sickles, Bamum, and Wagner, Colonels Veazey 
and Briggs, and Messrs. Bachelder and McPherson, 
to devise a plan for the future maintenance of the 
Gettysburg battle-field. The Memorial Associa- 




•a 

15 



Work of the Memorial Association 159 

tion had performed a great work. The natural 
features of the ground on which the battle was 
fought had been preserved. Avenues to various 
parts of the battle-field had been opened. The 
position of the Union troops had been fixed with 
painstaking care, and monuments had been lo- 
cated. But the work that remained to be done, 
and the proper oversight of the grounds in pos- 
session of the Association, required an annual 
outlay for which the limited and irregular income 
of the Association was manifestly insufficient. 

By this committee the attention of the Con- 
gress of the United States was called to the work 
of the Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial Associa- 
tion, and the necessity of government aid not only 
in completing the work, but in meeting the future 
requirements of the field. There was a favorable 
response to the representations of this committee, 
and an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1893, 
was passed authorizing the appointment by the 
Secretary of War of a Commission consisting of 
three members to whom the work of preserv- 
ing the battle-lines at Gettysburg should be 
committed. 

Meanwhile the Memorial Association continued 
its work, but in entire harmony with the work of 
the Commission. At a meeting of the executive 
committee held December 18, 1893, Mr. Bachelder 



i6o The National Park 

was authorized to receive all the cannon turned 
over to the Association by the Secretary of War 
under the act of Congress approved March 3, 1873, 
which was not actually in the possession of the 
Association ; and he was instructed to deliver the 
same to the Commission for the purpose of mark- 
ing the battle-field. 

The action of Congress in providing for the 
maintenance of the Gettysburg battle-field as 
developed by the Memorial Association brought 
the labors of that organization to a close, and 
August 21, 1894, a committee was appointed to 
consider the feasibility of transferring to the 
United States Government the property belonging 
to the Association. This committee, October 3, 
1894, reported in favor of such a transfer, and the 
assent of the stockholders of the Association was 
requested. This assent was promptly obtained, 
and the Association at its final meeting, held May 
22, 1895, adopted resolutions instructing its offi- 
cers to execute, under the corporate seal of the 
Association, deeds of conveyance to the United 
States Government of all lands owned by the 
Association, and all rights of way and easements 
belonging to it. At the same time the Association 
requested the Legislature of Pennsylvania to pass, 
and the Governor of the State to approve, an act 
vesting in the United States Government joint 



Work of the Memorial Association i6i 

jurisdiction with the commonwealth over such 
lands as may be necessary for a national park at 
Gettysburg. 

The following resolution also was adopted: 
"Resolved, That the Board express its grateftd 
appreciation of the generous support accorded the 
Association by the several States, by their appro- 
priations to it, and by the erection of appropriate 
monuments to mark the positions upon the field 
of their several organizations." 

Between the years 1864 and 1895, the Associa- 
tion had received the following sums : 
From the sale of certificates of stock . $9,875.59 
From various States by appropriation . 96,490.00 
From the officers and men at Fort Snelling 125.00 
From the survivors of Cushing's Battery , 25.00 
From the 2d Maryland Confederate Infantry 60.00 

Making a total of . . . $106,575.59 

All of this $106,575.59 "was expended in the 
purchase, restoration, improvement, and main- 
tenance of the grounds. Less than $10,000 was 
spent in salaries arid like expenses ; the only salary 
being that of $1,000 per annum for the last few 
years to the superintendent, and the salary of 
$100 per annum to the secretary, except for three 
years when he received $400 per annum." ^ 

1 Gettysburg: A History of the Gettysburg Battle-field Me- 
morial Assoctatiouy p. 261. By John M. Vanderslice. Published 
by the Memorial Association. 
II 



1 62 The National Park 

The land transferred by the Association to the 
United States Government amounted to about six 
hundred acres, on which the Association had con- 
structed about seventeen miles of roads and 
avenues. It had also supervised the erection of 
three hundred and twenty monuments, the ex- 
pense of these monuments being borne by the 
States represented in the battle. 

It was a noble work that had been performed, 
and all those who had a part in it during those 
thirty -one years of its existence are entitled to 
lasting remembrance.! 

The whole amount of money expended by the 
States on the Gettysburg battle-field, in connec- 
tion with the work of the Gettysburg Battle-field 
Memorial Association, was $83 5, j62 5. 5 5. 2 

1 See Appendix A. 

2 See Appendix A. 



CHAPTER II 

WORK OF THE NATIONAL PARK COMMISSION 

T^HE Gettysburg National Park Commission, 
•*• authorized by an act of Congress approved 
March 3, 1893, was appointed by the Secretary of 
War, Hon. Daniel S. Lamont, May 25, 1893. 
The appointees were Lieut.-CoL John P. Nichol- 
son, of Pennsylvania, Mr. John B. Bachelder, of 
Massachusetts, and Brig.-Gen. William H. Forney 
of Alabama. In a letter addressed to Lieut.-Col. 
Nicholson, May 29th following, the Secretary of 
War suggested that the Commission should estab- 
lish its principal office at Gettysburg. ''As to the 
general policy of the Commission," wrote the 
Secretary, " I have to request that its immediate 
work shall be directed to the preservation of the 
lines and evidences of battle, and that no plan 
shall be entered upon involving the outlay of 
money which would in its execution exceed the 
limit of the present appropriation. I believe that 
the practice hitherto pursued by the Battle-field 
Memorial Association of purchasing strips and 

small parcels of land rather than large areas should 

163 



1 64 The National Park 

continue to prevail unless Congress otherwise 
directs. 

"In view of the fact that the positions of the 
various organizations of the Union and Confeder- 
ate armies have already been determined with sub- 
stantial accuracy, it is not believed that many 
questions will arise as to which there is likely to be 
serious difference of opinion. Should differences 
arise, however, in regard to the acquisition or 
ownership of land, the position of troops, or any 
other subject of importance, it is my desire that 
they be so carefully and exhaustively considered, 
from all points of view, as to result in a unanimous 
recommendation on the part of the Commission. 

"In conclusion, I venture to express the hope 
that the work entrusted to your hands will be 
brought to an early and satisfactory conclusion, 
and that the lines occupied by both armies in that 
battle will be so permanently marked as to enable 
the important and decisive operations conducted 
there to be clearly seen and understood, and the 
field preserved in all its essential features." 

The act of Congress authorizing the Commission 
placed at its disposal the sum of twenty-five 
thousand dollars "for the purpose of preserving 
the lines of battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 
and for properly marking with tablets the posi- 
tions occupied by the various commands of the 




ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA j 

^: LONGSTREET'S CORPS McLAWS'S DIVISION 

WOFFORD'S BRIGADE 
16th (8TH 24th REGIMENTS COBB'S AND 
PHILLIPS LEGIONS GEORGIA INFANTRY 

July 2 Arrived at 4 p. a. ano formed line 100 yards west of this Oroered 

TO the front about $ p. ft. AND ADVANCING SOON AFTERWARD ALONG 
THE WhEATFIELD RoAD FLANKED THE UNION FORCES ASSAILING THE LoOP 
AND AIDED THE CONFEDERATES THEREBY RELIEVED IN DRIVING THEM BACK 
THROUGH THE WhEATFIELD TO THE FOOT OF LlTTLE RoUNO TOP ASSAILED 
THERE BYA STRONG BODY OF FRESH TROOPS AND RECEIVING AT THE SAME 
MOMENT AN ORDER TO WITHDRAW THE BRIGADE FELL BACK AT SUNSET TO 
THE GROVE WEST OF THE WhEATFIELD 

July 3 One regiment was left on outpost duty in that grove The others 

SUPPORTED artillery ON PeACH ORCHARD RIDGE AlL WITHDREW LATE 

in the afternoon 
July a \h line here all day At midnight began the march to Hagerstown 
Present ABOUT 1350 Killed 36 wounded 207 missing 112 Total ass 




■a^rMl.. 



Brigade Tablet — Confederate. 



National Park Commission 165 

armies of the Potomac and of Northern Virginia 
on that field, and for opening and improving 
avenues along the positions occupied by troops 
upon those lines, and for fencing the same, and for 
determining the leading tactical positions of bat- 
teries, regiments, brigades, divisions, corps, and 
other organizations with reference to the study 
and correct understanding of the battle, and to 
mark the same with suitable tablets, each bearing 
a brief historical legend, compiled without praise 
and without censure." 

One of the first acts of the chairman of the 
Commission was the selection of a topographical 
engineer. Lieut. -Col. E. B. Cope was called to the 
position — a position for which he had ample 
qualifications, and in which he has performed the 
most valuable service. His first work was to estab- 
lish a meridian, which in all the surveys since the 
war had not been done. The datum point of refer- 
ence was the centre of the square in the town of 
Gettysburg, and a meridian line was established 
on the high ground of the Gettysburg Battle-field 
Memorial Association, near Hancock Avenue. 
Using this meridian as a base of operations many 
miles of backsight transit lines were at once run 
on various parts of the field. 

Early attention was given by the Commissioners 
to an examination of Seminary Ridge with refer- 



1 66 The National Park 

ence to the laying out of an avenue that should 
make accessible the line occupied by the Confed- 
erate forces on that ridge during the greater part of 
the second and third days' battle, the ridge afford- 
ing a view of the entire Union line from Cemetery 
Hill to the Round Tops. Along this line, and in 
rear of it, there remained many traces of Confeder- 
ate breastworks, and in all cases where stone walls 
were found, that had been used for defensive pur- 
poses, they were included in the proposed avenue, 
now known as Confederate Avenue. Other ave- 
nues having reference to Confederate lines were 
also surveyed. Various tracts of land on which 
were the remains of breastworks, and properties 
at important parts of the battle-field, were care- 
fully surveyed. An area of about one and a half 
square miles, in the vicinity of the Springs Hotel, 
received especial attention, the object being to map 
that territory to the minutest detail, including 
the projected Confederate avenues. 

In entering upon their work the Commissioners 
found important lines of battle occupied by an 
electric railway, the construction of which was 
begun in April, 1893. So objectionable was this 
occupation deemed by the Commission that an 
effort was commenced for the removal of the rail- 
way. In this effort the Commissioners had 
the hearty support of the Secretary of War, 




CJ 



National Park Commission 167 

and the effort resulted in the suspension of the 
work. 

One incident connected with the opening of the 
work of the Commission was the visit, August 23, 
1893, of an excursion party from Winchester, Va. 
Many of the party, Confederate veterans, members 
of the Stonewall Brigade, had participated in the 
battle of Gettysburg. The Commissioners accom- 
panied them to various parts of the field, and 
noted and marked positions which they occupied 
at the time of the battle. In this way these veter- 
ans gave the Commissioners valuable assistance, 
in which they have had many followers in subse- 
quent years. 

The scheme for the complete and exhaustive 
topographical study of the battle-field, begun in 
1893, was continued in 1894, in order to have an 
accurate and complete instrumental survey of the 
entire field. The work of constructing proposed 
avenues was commenced. The Telford system of 
road-building was adopted, and so satisfactory 
did the system prove that it has been retained in 
all later construction. 

Several important properties needed for the 
construction of proposed avenues were now se- 
cured. All efforts to induce the Gettysburg 
Electric Railroad to vacate the lines of battle in 
what is known as the Loop, the Devil's Den, and 



1 68 The National Park 

through the Valley of Death having failed, the 
Commissioners requested the Secretary of War 
to undertake condemnation proceedings, and 
these were commenced. As the result of these 
proceedings, damages to the amount of thirty thou- 
sand dollars were awarded to the electric company ; 
but the company appealed, considering the award 
inadequate, and the Commissioners, with the ap- 
proval of the Secretary of War, also appealed, 
on the ground that the award was excessive and 
detrimental to the best interests of the United 
States. 

On August II, 1894, General Lewis, Colonel 
Tate, and Colonel Keenan, of North Carolina, 
visited the battle-field and located the position of 
many of the North Carolina troops. General 
Harry Heth, of Longstreet's command, also 
visited the field about the same time and located 
the position of the two batteries of his division, 
from which the first shots were fired that opened 
the battle on the morning of July ist. On October 
30th a committee of the Seventh West Virginia 
Infantry located their battle-line on the Pfeffer 
property, near Ziegler's Grove. 

General Forney, the Confederate member of the 
Commission, died at his home in Jacksonville, 
Ala., January 16, 1894. Major William M. Rob- 
bins, of Statesville, N. C, whose service during 



National Park Commission 169 

the war was with the Fourth Alabama, was made 
his successor. 

By an act of Congress, approved February 11, 
1895, the Secretary of War was authorized to re- 
ceive from the Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial 
Association a deed of conveyance to the United 
States of the lands belonging to the Association, 
together with all rights of way over avenues 
through these lands, and all improvements made 
upon it, and the Secretary was authorized to pay 
to the Association the sum of two thousand dol- 
lars, or so much thereof as might be necessary, to 
discharge the debts of the Association. As soon as 
this conveyance should take place the Secretary 
of War was directed to take possession of the lands 
thus acquired, or afterward acquired, the whole 
to be designated and known as the "Gettysburg 
National Park." 

In the act, the duty of the Commissioners was 
stated as follows: "To superintend the opening of 
such additional roads as may be necessary for the 
purposes of the park and for the improvement of 
the avenues heretofore laid out therein, and 
properly to mark the boundaries of the said park, 
and to ascertain and definitely mark the lines of 
battle of all troops engaged in the battle of 
Gettysburg, so far as the sam.e shall fall within the 
limits of the park." 



I70 The National Park 

By this act the Secretary of War was authorized 
and directed to acquire, at such time and in such 
manner as might seem to him best calculated to 
serve the public interest, such lands in the vicinity 
of Gettysburg as were occupied by the infantry, 
cavalry, and artillery on the first, second, and 
third days of July, 1863, and such other adjacent 
lands as he might deem necessary to preserve the 
important topographical features of the battle- 
field ; not, however, to prejudice the rights acquired 
by any State or by any military organization to 
the ground on which its monuments or markers 
are placed, or the right of way to the same. 

The act appropriated the sum of five thousand 
dollars for a suitable bronze tablet, containing on 
it the address delivered by Abraham Lincoln at 
the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettys- 
burg, November 19, 1863, also on it a medallion 
likeness of Mr. Lincoln ; and the Secretary of War 
was directed to have the tablet erected on the 
most suitable site within the limits of the 
park.^ 

For carrying out the general purposes of the act, 
that is, for opening, improving, and repairing 
necessary roads and avenues, providing surveys 
and maps, suitably marking the boundaries of the 
park, and for the pay and expenses of the Commis- 
' This has not yet (1906) been erected. 




Tower on Confederate Avenue. 



National Park Commission 171 

sioners and their assistants, Congress appropriated 
the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars. 

The work of constructing avenues and roads 
was continued by the Commission in 1895. Two 
bridges were built over Plum Run, one on United 
States Avenue, the other on Confederate Avenue. 
Four steel towers, also, were erected according to 
a design prepared by Colonel Cope: namely, one 
on Big Round Top, one on Seminary Ridge near 
the Wheatfield road, one on Seminary Ridge near 
the Mummasburg road, overlooking the scene of 
the first day's fight; and one on the summit of 
Culp's Hill. These towers added greatly to the 
facilities provided by the Commissioners for an 
intelligent study of the Gettysburg battle-field. 

The foundation for the equestrian statue of 
Maj.-Gen. W. S. Hancock was completed Septem- 
ber 23, 1895, and the statue was erected soon 
after. It was dedicated June 5, 1896. This was 
the first equestrian statue erected upon the 
Gettysburg battle-field. The equestrian statue 
of General Meade was erected very soon after 
that of General Hancock, and it was dedicated on 
the same day as the Hancock statue. 

The volunteer batteries of the Union army 
were generally represented at this time by a 
single cannon mounted upon inferior carriages. 
The Commission now substituted an improved 



172 The National Park 

iron gun-carriage, resting upon granite foundation 
stones. Such carriages also were provided for 
cannon to mark the position of Confederate 
batteries. 

The position of the various commands of the 
Army of the Potomac had been determined and 
marked for the most part by the Memorial Asso- 
ciation. Those of the Army of Northern Virginia 
remained for the Commissioners to ascertain and 
locate. Surviving Confederate officers and soldiers 
were invited to visit Gettysburg, and the governors 
of States in the South were requested to send 
commissioners representing Confederate com- 
mands to aid the park Commissioners in this 
work. The responses from the South to these 
invitations were exceedingly gratifying. 

Seminary Avenue was completed in 1896; also 
that part of Seminary Avenue running from the 
Chambersburg pike southward along Seminary 
Ridge as far as the government then owned the 
right of way; also Hancock Avenue which runs 
from the National Cemetery gate southward along 
the main Union line of battle to the east end of 
United States Avenue; also Sickles Avenue, 
which runs from the Emmittsburg road southeast- 
ward, via the Loop and the Wheatfield, to the 
Devil's Den. Slocum Avenue, which follows the 
battle-lines over Culp's Hill, was at this time 



National Park Commission 173 

|. in course of construction and nearly completed. 

In their annual report for 1896 the Commission- 
ers say: ''Handsome tablets of iron, not only for 
each battery, but also for each command of in- 
fantry and cavalry, will stand along the main lines 
of battle, with brief inscriptions specifying the 
name of each command., its service in the battle, 
and referring to auxiliary and subordinate tablets 
so placed as to indicate successive movements 
during the conflict. Much thought has been given 
to the preparation of these tablets and their 
inscriptions for the Confederate commands, so 
as to arrive at the utmost possible historic ac- 
curacy with regard to each one as well as per- 
fect consistency and fairness among them as a 
whole. This is a work requiring great deliberation 
and painstaking, but we hope to accomplish it 
satisfactorily." 

At this time the Commissioners announced the 
erection of a fifth steel tower. This was placed 
near the centre of the field in Ziegler's Grove, and 
not far from the point where the battle ended with 
the gallant but unsuccessful charge made by 
Pickett's and other commands on the afternoon of 
the third day. 

In 1897, Sedgwick, Sykes, and Meade avenues 
were constructed. Sedgwick Avenue leads from 
the southern end of Hancock Avenue to the 



174 The National Park 

northern base of Little Round Top, following the 
Sixth Corps line, and continues on until it connects 
with Confederate Avenue on the western slope of 
Big Round Top. Meade Avenue leads from 
General Meade's headquarters on the Taney town 
road to Hancock Avenue, at the point where the 
Confederate assault of the third day culminated. 
That part of Crawford Avenue which leads from 
the Devil's Den northward through the Valley 
of Death to the Wheatfield road, including a 
bridge over Plum Run, was also completed, and 
Hancock Avenue was widened to one hundred 
feet by purchasing the necessary ground on each 
side, a much-needed improvement. Among the 
other avenues which were still rough, narrow, 
and unsightly ways, scarcely passable, were 
Wright Avenue, leading from the gap between 
the Round Tops, southeasterly across the Taney- 
town road, along the line of the left division of the 
Sixth Corps; Pleasonton Avenue, from Hancock 
Avenue eastward by the cavalry headquarters 
to the Taneytown road; and the return avenue 
on Culp's Hill, from Spangler's Spring westward 
along the southern base of that hill, marking the 
battle-line where the Union forces formed in 
the early morning of July 3d, and advanced for the 
recovery of their position captured by the Con- 
federates the evening before. Reynolds, Buford. 




o 
o 



o 



National Park Commission 175 

and Howard avenues, along the lines of the first 
day's fight, were still only dirt roads, and there 
was urgent need of a new avenue leading from 
the southeastern base of Gulp's Hill across Rock 
Creek to the extreme right flank of the Union and 
left flank of the Confederate forces. Indeed, up 
to 1898, the attention of the Commission was 
given very largely to the roads and avenues con- 
nected with the movements on the second and 
third days' battle-fields. 

Attention was now directed to the roads and 
avenues connected with the operations of July 
ist. Howard Avenue, which leads from the Har- 
risburg road, near Rock Creek, westward by 
Barlow's Knoll to the Mummasburg road, was 
completed, and Reynolds Avenue was completed 
in the following spring. On Confederate Avenue 
there still remained a gap of two miles along the 
right of Hill's and the left of Longstreet's 
position. This the Commission wished to con- 
struct, thus completing Confederate Avenue from 
the Chambersburg pike northwest of the town 
southward and eastward to Big Round Top, a 
distance of five miles. The owners of the land 
asked such exorbitant prices for it, however, that 
the Secretary of War and the Commission did not 
feel justified in meeting their demands. Accord- 
ingly proceedings with reference to condemnation 



1/6 The National Park 

were commenced ; but vexatious delays and con- 
tinuances were resorted to, and it was not until 
1900 that the necessary land on Seminary Ridge 
for the completion of Confederate Avenue was 
secured. 

The two parts of Sickles Avenue previously 
disconnected were united in 1899 by constructing 
an avenue eleven hundred feet in length along 
what is known as the Wheatfield road, which 
was a public highway when Sickles Avenue was 
made, and so could not be occupied and im- 
proved as a battle-field avenue. This difficulty 
had now been obviated by an act of the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature ceding jurisdiction of all 
such roads to the United States, and an act of 
Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to 
improve such of these roads as in his discretion 
might be deemed needful. Sickles Avenue was 
now made continuous, and follows, as near as the 
contour of the ground will permit, the entire line 
of the Third Army Corps from the Emmittsburg 
road near the Rogers house to the Devil's Den. 

The equestrian statue of Maj.-Gen. John F. 
Reynolds, a gift of the State of Pennsylvania, was 
unveiled with appropriate ceremonies July 9, 1899. 

In the same year an avenue, known as East 
Confederate Avenue, extending from the eastern 
border of the town across the intervening fields 



National Park Commission 177 

to Gulp's Hill, and around the base of that hill to 
Spangler's Spring, was completed. Nearly a niile 
and a half long, and twenty feet wide, it follows 
substantially the battle-line of E well's corps, at its 
southeastern terminus joining Slocum Avenue, 
which marks the line of the Twelfth Corps along 
the summit of Gulp's Hill. 

Reference has already been made to the 
mounted cannon on the battle-field when the 
Gommission entered upon its work in 1893, ^^id 
to the changes made in the carriages on which 
they rested. These cannon were not of the same 
calibre as those used in the battle. Not only were 
new carriages now substituted for the old, imper- 
fect ones, but new guns, and many additional 
batteries, all of the same class and calibre as those 
used in the battle by each battery. 

By the close of 1900 there were two hundred 
and twenty-five mounted guns on the battle-field, 
and the total number of monumental iron tablets 
with appropriate inscriptions had increased to 
three hundred and ten. 

In order to preserve the natural features of the 
battle-field as they existed July 1-3, 1863, stone 
walls were rebuilt and the woods, cut off in the 
intervening years, were renewed, thousands of 
young trees being planted for this purpose. At 
the same time, great care was exercised in keeping 



178 The National Park 

in good condition the trees in the Park that were 
standing in 1863. 

In 1 90 1, West Confederate Avenue, twenty feet 
wide and over two miles long, extending from the 
Hagerstown road near the Seminary southward 
along Seminary Ridge, following the Confederate 
line of battle on the second and third days, was 
completed. This now rendered accessible, for the 
first time, the ground on which the Confederate 
column was formed in preparation for Pickett's 
charge. The completion of this part of Confederate 
Avenue not only provided an easy way to the lines 
of the Confederate forces at that point, but it 
opened up a more satisfactory view of a large 
part of the battle-field, including some of the 
most important and interesting Union positions, 
thereby enabling the visitor, and especially the 
military critic, to study without great incon- 
venience, and better than before, the scene of the 
great conflict. 

One very valuable part of the work of the 
engineer's department under Colonel Cope was 
the preparation of two large maps of the battle- 
field, on a scale of six hundred feet to the inch 
and embracing an area of seventeen square miles. 
These maps were completed in 1901. On one of 
these maps, showing the topography of the 
battle-field as it was in 1863, with accuracy in 



National Park Commission i79 

every detail, the positions of the troops on both 
sides have since been marked for every hour of 
July ist, 2d, and 3d, a copy of the map being used 
for each hour of the three days. The other map 
shows not only the topography in general, but 
the timber, fences, rocks, buildings, mounted 
guns, avenues, monuments, in short everything 
on the battle-field as it is at the present time. 

Chamberlain and Warren avenues were added 
in 1902. The former runs southward from near 
the summit of Little Round Top along the crest 
of Vincent Spur and the battle-line of the Union 
troops in their defence of that position in the after- 
noon of July 2, 1863 ; and then, curving down the 
slope, connects with Sykes Avenue in the gap 
between Big Round Top and Little Round Top. 
Warren Avenue starts from Sykes Avenue at that 
same point, and runs westward along the base of 
Little Round Top to Plum Run Valley, and cross- 
ing that run joins Crawford Avenue near the 
Devil's Den. 

At this time, also, the Commission could report 
that monumental tablets had been erected along 
Confederate Avenue on Seminary Ridge marking 
the positions of all the Confederate brigades that 
occupied the ridge, from the Wheatfield road on 
the right to the Hagerstown road on the left. 
These tablets, like all the other tablets on the 



i8o The National Park 

battle-field, are m dimensions three feet nine 
inches by two feet six inches, with carefully pre- 
pared inscriptions, cast in raised letters, describ- 
ing the part taken in the battle by each brigade, 
and stating its numbers and losses so far as is 
ascertainable. 

Nine itinerary tablets, at this time, had also 
been erected on East Cemetery Hill, along the 
Baltimore pike, describing the movements and 
positions of the Union army, and each of the 
commands composing it, on each day from June 
29 to July 7, 1863. 

On Seminary Ridge ten Confederate tablets 
also were now erected, recording the movements 
of the Confederate army and its several corps, 
divisions, and brigades on each day from June 
26th, when the last of the Army of Northern 
Virginia crossed the Potomac into Maryland, 
until after the close of the battle and the retreat 
from Gettysburg, July 5, 1863. 

Buford Avenue, extending from Reynolds Ave- 
nue northwestward to the Mummasburg road 
along the line of the Union cavalry, which threat- 
ened the left flank of the Confederate infantry on 
the forenoon of July ist, and Stone Avenue, which 
runs along the line of the Bucktail Brigade from 
the Chambersburg pike to Reynolds woods, were 
completed in 1903. 




Slocum Statue, 



National Park Commission i8i 

An equestrian statue of Ma j. -Gen. Henry W. 
Slocum, erected by the State of New York, was 
dedicated September 19, 1903. 

Additional purchases of land amounting to one 
hundred and ninety-four acres were made in 
1904, and the total area of lands at Gettysburg 
then in possession of the United States Govern- 
ment was thirteen hundred and eighty acres, or 
about two and a half square miles. 

In this year, eighty-one hundred trees were 
purchased by the Commission, and these, under 
the direction of S. B. Detwiler, field assistant of 
the United States Bureau of Forestry, were 
planted on Seminary Ridge, on United States 
land south of the McMillan woods, and southerly 
along the border of West Confederate Avenue to 
the Wheatfield road, a distance of nearly two 
miles; and on the Masonheimer land, south of 
United States Avenue. 

By an act passed February 18, 1903, and a 
supplemental act approved March 12, 1905, 
Congress directed the Commission, subject to the 
supervision of the Secretary of War, to erect 
monuments and markers to the forty-two organi- 
zations of the Regular Army that participated in 
the battle at Gettysburg. An appropriation of 
sixty- three thousand dollars was made for this 
purpose, and the Secretary of War procured as 



1 82 The National Park 

far as practicable the appointment of committees 
of the survivors of these organizations for the 
purpose of having the Commissioners consult 
with them and, with the approval of the Secretary 
of War, determine the designs and positions of 
these markers and momiments, and the inscrip- 
tions to be placed upon them. The meeting of the 
committee and the Commissioners was held at 
Gettysburg, October 17 and 18, 1905. 

Major William M. Robbins, the Confederate 
member of the Commission, who had served con- 
tinuously since his appointment in March, 1894, 
died May i, 1905, and Maj.-Gen. J. J. Lomax, of 
Virginia, was made his successor. Major Robbins 
had become widely known in connection with the 
work of the Commission, and he had a large circle 
of friends in the survivors of both armies. 

In the autumn of 1904, four thousand one 
hundred trees were planted in the open spaces in 
what were known as Pitzer's woods, Biesecker's 
woods, and Masonheimer's field. 

"A few small tracts of land," say the Commis- 
sioners in their report for 1905, amounting to 
about thirty-six acres, are needed to connect 
avenues, especially the main field with the cavalry 
field, east of the town. A wooded tract of seventy 
acres, known as Powers Hill, is also needed to 
preserve the topographical features of the field, 



National Park Commissron 183 

and to mark the headquarters of General Slocum 
during the battle, and the positions of two bat- 
teries and a regiment of infantry." 

In this report, the Commissioners suggested 
that markers be placed to indicate the farthest 
and most important advances of the Confederate 
brigades in the attack on the Union positions dur- 
ing July ist, 2d, and 3d. The tablets on the Con- 
federate avenues give condensed itineraries only 
showing where the Confederate forces started 
from. The markers suggested will show the points 
reached, and give an outline history of the field of 
attack. The advanced positions of the Union 
regiments are now marked by monuments and 
markers which have been erected by the various 
States. 

Colonel E. A. Garlington, Inspector-General, 
U. S. A., made an inspection of the work of the 
Commission near the close of 1904. In his report 
he says: "Since July, 1893, there have been con- 
structed twenty miles of Telford avenues ; thirteen 
and one half miles of avenue fencing, built of 
locust posts and gas-pipe rails; twelve and one 
half miles of fencing built of posts and rails ; thir- 
teen miles of gutter paving. Five and one quarter 
miles of stone walls have been rebuilt at locations 
where stone walls existed at the time of the battle. 
Three hundred and twenty-four guns have been 



1 84 The National Park 

mounted; four hundred and sixty- two tablets 
have been erected, and seventeen thousand and 
one hundred trees have been planted. The trees 
are planted on ground that was covered with trees 
at the time of the battle. All this work has been 
well done. 

"The roads have been constructed on the 
Telford system; the roadbed, carefully graded and 
drained, was covered with a course of stone, paved 
by hand, consisting of hard stone eight to ten 
inches long, seven to eight inches wide, and four 
to six inches thick, and bowlders about the same 
size, set up on edge, thickest edge down, length 
across the road, and laid so as to break joints as 
much as possible, forming a rough, irregular pave- 
ment, eight inches thick over the whole roadbed, 
the joints between the stones being chinked and 
knapped with smaller stones and stone chips 
driven in, projecting points above eight inches 
being knocked off with a hammer. 

''A course of stones twelve inches high, twelve 
to eighteen inches long, six to eight inches thick, 
is laid at the sides of the subgrade. This founda- 
tion is covered to a depth of five inches in the 
centre, and four inches at the sides, with broken 
stone, one and one half inches dimensions. This 
is rolled by a thirteen- ton roller at least five times 
after being sprinkled. One half inch of clay is then 



National Park Commission 185 

spread over this layer, which is then covered with 
two inches of granite screenings, three-fourths- 
inch size, which is sprinkled and rolled five times ; 
finally, over this a half inch of fine limestone 
screenings is evenly spread over the entire surface, 
sprinkled and rolled at least ten times. 

*' Some of these roads have been in use ten years 
and show very little signs of wear: in fact, they 
are as good as when first completed. The average 
cost of these roads has been about seventy-three 
and one half cents per square yard — something 
over eight thousand dollars a mile. With proper 
care and maintenance they will last indefinitely. 
The guttering along these roads now being con- 
structed under the supervision of the chief engineer 
by day labor is an improvement over that first 
put down by the contract system. It is of excellent 
quality and should endure for a long time. 

"I thoroughly inspected the roads, avenues, 
and the park generally, both on the infantry field 
and on the cavalry field. The roads, fences, 
monuments, woodlands, and shrubbery are in 
good condition, and the entire park, as observed, 
was well policed and free from rubbish and other 
disfiguring elements. The character of the work 
done and the general conditions showed a very 
intelligent and thorough system as to construction, 



1 86 The National Park 

care, and maintenance. I have nothing to suggest 
in the way of improvements upon the methods and 
systems of the Commission. It appears to me that 
they have accomplished a great work, one of the 
principal features being the extreme care taken to 
ascertain the positions held by the various com- 
mands participating in the great battle fought 
there. There can be no doubt that the positions 
thus far marked are accurate and trustworthy." 

The date of the 1905 report of the Commission 
is June 30th. During the remainder of the year 
additional work was completed as follows : a steel 
bridge, sixty feet in length, spanning the cut for 
the Western railroad on Reynolds Avenue; three 
additional avenues, namely, North Confederate 
Avenue, 2365 feet long, Colgrove and Carman 
Avenue, 1794 feet long, and an extension of 
Doubled ay Avenue, 720 feet long; a total of 4879 
feet. Ten additional gun-carriages were provided ; 
also additional tablets making a total of 502 now 
on the battle-field. There were also provided 
additional guttering, avenue fencing, and post 
fencing. At the close of 1905 the amount of land 
in possession of the United States at Gettysburg, 
including the National Cemetery, was 1686 and 
jVir acres. 

The work of the Gettysburg National Park 
Commission has been of the most substantial and 



National Park Commission 187 

enduring kind throughout. Intelligence and sound 
judgment have characterized alike its plans and 
the execution of those plans during the past 
thirteen years. All this time Colonel Nicholson 
has stood at the head of the Commission. Into its 
work he has put himself — his intense patriotism, 
his business sagacity, and his indomitable energy 
and perseverance. No other position, however 
exalted, has been able to secure his services. Great 
singleness of purpose and a lofty consecration 
have characterized his entire connection with the 
Commission. He has had able assistants in the 
associate Commissioners. Major Richardson, who 
succeeded Mr. Bachelder in 1895, is still a member 
of the Commission, giving to its work his thorough, 
accurate, painstaking knowledge of all matters 
pertaining to the battle and the position of the 
contesting forces during the battle. The death of 
Major Robbins, in 1905, brought to an end a ser- 
vice in which, with admirable tact and spirit, he 
represented upon the Commission, and in his 
intercourse with visitors, the Army of Northern 
Virginia. General Lomax, who has taken his place, 
has as heartily and loyally entered into his labors. 
There can be no mention of the work of the 
Commission which does not include a reference 
to the work of the chief engineer. Colonel Cope^ 
and his assistants, Mr. S. Augustine Hammond 



1 88 



The National Park 



and Mr. H. W. Mattern. Colonel Cope's topo- 
graphical work upon the Gettysburg battle-field 
was commenced by order of General Meade in 
August, 1863, when the field was in the condition 
in which it was left at the time of the battle. The 
fine map then made by a party of topographical 
engineers from the headquarters of the Army of 
the Potomac, under the supervision of Colonel 
Cope, has been followed by the splendid relief 
map, fourteen feet long by ten and a half feet 
wide, representing twenty -four square miles, or 
substantially the entire battle-field, with all its 
features of hill and valley, field and forest, roads, 
buildings, streams, bridges — everything in fact as 
it existed at the time of the battle. This map, 
and other exhibits of the work of Colonel Cope's 
department, received merited attention and com- 
mendation at the St. Louis Exposition. 

The appropriations of Congress for the work of 
the Commission have been as follows 

$75,000 
80,000 
75,000 
60,000 
60,000 
57,000 
72,000^ 

Reported by Committee on Sundry Civil Bill. 



1893 . . 


$25,000 


1900 


1894 . . 


50,000 


I90I 


1895 . • 


75,000 


1902 


1896 . . 


50,000 


1903 


1897 . . 


50,000 


1904 


1898 . . 


50,000 


1905 


1899 . . 


69,922.50 


1906 



National Park Commission 189 

The money thus appropriated, amounting to 
$848,922.50, has been wisely expended. Certainly 
no one can have gone over the Gettysburg battle- 
field in recent years without many expressions of 
admiration for the substantial results which these 
appropriations have secured in enlarging the area 
of the lands received from the Gettysburg Battle- 
field Memorial Association, in preserving the prom- 
inent features of the battle-ground, in making it 
easily accessible in all its parts, and in carefully, 
accurately indicating the position of the forces 
engaged. The appropriations made by Congress 
have been generous, it is true, but they have been 
fully justified by the results already reached. 

And what has now been secured is a guarantee 
that the work that yet remains to be done will be 
executed with the same fidelity and devotion to 
the national interest that has characterized the 
work of the Commission to the present time. 
The future of the battle-field has been made 
secure; and w^hen the Commissioners have com- 
pleted their labors, a small annual appropriation 
will be ample for its further care and maintenance. 



APPENDIX A 

Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial Association 



Directors from 1872 to 1880 
Gen. John W. Geary, Gov. of Penn., 

President . . . . . . 1872 

David McConaughy, Gettysburg, Vice- 
President ..... 1872-1897 

Henry C. Carey, Esq., Philadelphia . 187 2-1 879 

Gen. J. Watts De Peyster, New York . 187 2-1879 

Wm. M. Hirsh, Gettysburg . . 187 2-1879 

Hon. A. D. Heister, Pennsylvania . 1872-1874 

Joel B. Danner, Gettysburg . . 187 2-1 8 74 

George Arnold, Gettysburg . . 187 2-1879 

Alexander D. Buehler, Gettysburg . 1872-1879 

Charles Horner, M.D., Gettysburg . 1872-1879 

J. Lawrence Schick, Esq., Gettysburg . 1872-1879 

John M. Krauth, Esq., Gettysburg . 1872-1879 

Edward Souder, Gettysburg , . 1872-1873 

H. N. McAllister, Esq., Gettysburg . 1872 

Gen. Charles K. Graham, New York . 1873-1879 
Gen. John F. Hartranft, Gov. of Penn., 

President 1873-1878 

Gen. Alexander S. Webb, New York . 1 873-1 879 

Gen. Horatio G. Sickel, Pennsylvania . 1 874-1 879 

Hon. Edward McPherson, Gettysburg . 1875 

R. G. McCreary, Esq., Gettysburg . 1876-1879 

290 



Gettysburg Memorial Association 191 

Directors from the Reorganization in 1880. 

Gen. Henry M. Hoyt, Gov. of Penn., 

President 1879-1882 

R. G. McCreary, Esq., Gettysburg, Vice- 
President I 880-1 883 

John M. Krauth, Esq., Gettysburg, 
Secretary from 1872 to time of decease 
in 1890 1880-1887 

Gen W. S. Hancock, Pennsylvania . 1 880-1884 

Gen. S. W. Crawford, Pennsylvania . 1880-1892 

Gen. Louis Wagner, Philadelphia . 1880-1896 

John M. Vanderslice, Esq., Philadelphia, 

1880-1882, 1884-1896 

Maj. C. W. Hazzard, Pennsylvania 

1880-1882, 1884-1896 

Capt. John Taylor, Philadelphia . 1 880-1 884 

Col. Charles H. Buehler, Gettysburg, 

Vice-President from 1887 to 1896 . 1 880-1 896 

J. L. Schick, Treasurer from 1880 to 

1896 . . . . . . 1880-1896 

Maj. Robert Bell, Gettysburg . . 1880-1886 

Charles Horner, M.D., Gettysburg . 1880-1887 

N. G. Wilson, Gettysburg, Superin- 
tendent of Grounds from 1880 to 1894 1 880-1 886 

John B. Bachelder, Mass. 1880-1881, 1883-1894 

Robert E. Pattison, Gov. of Penn., 

President . . . 1883-1886, 1891-1894 

Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Maine . 1883 

Gen. John C. Robinson, New York . 1883 

Gen. George Stannard, Vermont . 1883 



192 



The National Park 



"William S. Holtzworth, Gettysburg 
D. A. Buehler, Gettysburg, Vice-Presi 

dent ..... 
Col. Eli G. Sellers, Philadelphia . 
Col. W. W. Dudley, Indiana 
Gen. Henry A. Barnum, Naw York 
Col. Frank D. Sloat, Connecticut . 
Col. Elisha H. Rhodes, Rhode Island 
Gen. Byron R. Pierce, Michigan . 
John C. Linehan, New Hampshire 
Col. Charles L. Young, Ohio 
Col. Silas Colgrove, Indiana 
Gen. Lucius Fairchild, Wisconsin 
Gen. James A. Beaver, Gov. of Penn. 

President .... 
Capt. Wm. E. Miller, Pennsylvania 
Calvin Hamilton, Gettysburg, Secretary 

from 1890 to 1896 . 
Capt. H. W. Knight, D.D., Gettysburg 
Captain John P. Rea, Minnesota 
Col. Wheelock G. Veazey, Vermont 
Col. George C. Briggs, Michigan . 
William A. Kitzmiller, Gettysburg 
Hon. S. McSwope, Gettysburg 
Hon. Edward McPherson, Gettysburg 
Gen. Henry W. Slocum, New York 
Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, New York 
Gen. Joseph B. Carr, New York . 
C. E. Goldsborough, M.D., Gettysburg 
Gen. David McM. Gregg, Pennsylvania 



1884-1888 



1883- 



1885- 
885- 
88s- 
885- 
885- 
885- 
886- 
886- 

887- 
887- 

887- 
887- 

888- 
888- 
888- 



892- 
892- 
892- 
893- 



Gettysburg Memorial Association 193 

Gen. Alexander S. Webb, New York . 1 893-1 896 
Gen. Daniel S. Hastings, Gov. of Penn., 

President ..... 1895-1896 

Col. John P. Nicholson, Philadelphia . 1 895-1 896 

Gen. George S. Greene, New York . 1895-1896 

State Expenditures at Gettysburg 

MAINE 

1887. Resolves making provisions for 
monuments, purchasing land, 
and improving the same, in elud- 
ing appropriation of $2 500.00 
to the Memorial Association . $15 ,000 oOO 

1889. Maine Gettysburg Commission . 10,000.00 

1 89 1. High- Water Mark monument . 500.00 

1 89 1. Changing flanking stone, 5th 

Maine B attery , Seminary Ridge 2 5 .00 

1 89 1. 5th Maine Regiment, change lo- 
cation, etc. .... 150.00 

1 89 1. 17th Maine Regiment, tablet . 300.00 

1 89 1. Expenses of the Executive Com- 
mittee .... 700.00 

1 89 1. Printing, binding, etc., report of 

Commission .... 3,600.00 



NEW HAflPSHIRE 



Total .... $30,300.00 



1886. Appropriation to the Gettysburg 

Memorial Association . . $1,000.00 



194 The National Park 

1886. For monuments, 2d, 5th and 12th 

Regiments .... $1,500.00 

1886. Appropriation for monument, 

New Hampshire companies ist 

and 2d U. S Sharpshooters . 500.00 

1886. Appropriation for repairs to 

above monuments . . 1,000.00 

1886. Appropriation for monument at 

High- Water Mark . . 500.00 



Total .... $4,500.00 



VERMONT 

1888. Appropriation to the Gettysburg 
Battle-field Memorial Associa- 
tion $1,500.00 

1888. Appropriation for State monu- 
ment and statue . . . 11,750.00 

1888. Appropriation towards the ist 

Cavalry monument . . 1,000.00 

1888. Appropriation towards the ist 

Brigade monument . . 1,303.00 

1888. Appropriation towards Company 
F's (ist U. S. Sharpshooters) 
monument .... 1,200.00 

1888. Appropriation for additional work 

on tablets .... 400.00 

Total .... $17,953.00 






Gettysburg Memorial Association 195 

MASSACHUSETTS 

1883. For the payment to the Gettys- 

burg Memorial Association for 

the purchase of additional 

ground .... $ 5,000.00 

1884. For the payment of $500 each to 

the Organizations of the State 
participating in the battle for 
the erection of monuments on 
the Gettysburg battle-field . 22,000.00 

1885. To the Massachusetts Mozart As- 

sociation of the 40th New York 
Regiment for the erection of a 
monument . . . . 500.00 

1888. For flank stones to mark the 
positions of the Massachusetts 
regiments . . . » 1,200.00 

1 89 1. For the erection of a large tab- 
let commemorating the services 
of certain Massachusetts regi- 
ments .... 400.00 

1 89 1. For the erection of a bronze tablet 500.0a 

1892. To the Gettysburg Battle-field 

Memorial Association to com- 
plete and care for the granite 
and bronze monument known 
as the High-Water Mark monu- 
ment ..... 400.0a 

Total .... $30,000.00. 



19^ The National Park 

RHODE ISLAND 

1885. To the Gettysburg Battle-field 

Memorial Association for the 

purchase, care of grounds, etc. $1,000.00 
1885. For monuments to 2d Regiment, 

and Batteries A, B, and E . 2,000.00 

1 89 1. State contribution to High-Water 

Mark monument . . . 400.00 



Total .... $3,400.00 

CONNECTICUT 

1885. Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial 
Association for purchase of 
portion of the battle-ground . $2,500.00 

1888. 5th Regiment Connecticut Vol- 

unteers for monument . . 500.00 

1889. 2d Light Battery Connecticut 

Volunteers for monument . 500.00 

1890. 27th Regiment Connecticut Vol- 

unteers for monument . . 1,000.00 

1890. 17th Regiment Connecticut Vol- 
unteers for monument . . 1,000.00 

1894. Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial 
Association for High- Water 
Mark monument . . . 200.00 

Total .... $5,700.00 



Gettysburg Memorial Association 197 

NEW YORK 

1889. For the erection of the State mon- 
ument in the National Ceme- 
tery $50,000.00 

1891. Additional .... 10,000.00 

1887. For Regimental and Battery 

monuments .... 60,000.00 

1888. Additional .... 67,500.00 

1889. Additional .... 10,000.00 
1889. For the erection of tablets to 

Battery E. and loth, nth, and 

14th Batteries . . . 2,000.00 

1885. To the Memorial Association . 10,000.00 

1887. Additional .... 10,000.00 

1889. For markers, sites and sodding . 1,525.00 

1 89 1. For the erection of a memorial 

bronze tablet under the super- 
vision of the Memorial Associa- 
tion ..... 2,400.00 

1892. For the completion of the same . 1,000.00 

1893. Additional .... 400.00 



Total .... $224,825.00 



NEW JERSEY 

1886-7. For Mem.orial Association . $ 3,000.00 

1886-7. For regimental monuments . 15,450.00 

1886-7. Individual contributions . S>305-oo 



198 The National Park 

1890. Monument of the 12th Regiment $1,000.00 

1888. Expense of dedication of monu- 

ments, including the transpor- 
tation and subsistence of sol- 
diers who participated in the 
battle 19,500.00 

Total .... $44,225.00 

PENNSYLVANIA 

1867. For the purchase of portions of 

the battle-grounds, and general 
purpose of Memorial Associa- 
tion .....$ 3,000.00 

1868. Additional .... 3,000.00 
188 1. Additional .... 10,000.00 
1887. For marking the position of each 

of the Pennsylvania commands 
in the battle, being 1,500.00 
for each command . . 121,000.00 

1889. For purchase of land, etc. . . 20,000.00 
1889. For the High-Water Mark monu- 
ment ..... 1,000.00 

1889. Additional memorial tablets . 4,500.00 

1889. For transportation of all surviv- 
ing soldiers residing in Pennsyl- 
vania who participated in the 
battle ..... 50,000.00 

1 89 1. For printing and binding 38,000 

copies of Pennsylvania at Get- 
tysburg .... 43,877.22 



Gettysburg Memorial Association 199 

1 89 1 . For publishing report of Commis- 
sion. ..... $3,000.00 

1 89 1. For tablet of 21st Regiment of 

Pennsylvania Cavalry . . 1,500.00 

1 891. For monuments to Generals 

Meade, Reynolds and Hancock 100,000.00 

1 89 1. For memorial to mark the posi- 
tion of the 26th Pennsylvania 
Emergency Regiment . . 1,500.00 

1 89 1. For expenses of Commission . 2,000.00 

1893. For maintaining and keeping in 

repair the battle-field . . 5,000.00 

1893. For expenses of Gettysburg Bat- 
tle-field Memorial Association . 2,000.00 

1893. For keeping the Pennsylvania 

monuments in repair . . 2,500.00 



Total .... $374,377-22 

DELAWARE 

For monuments of ist and 2d 

Regiments .... $850.00 

For the purchase of sites of mon- 
uments, etc. . . . 500.00 

For the expenses of Committee 
and state officers to select sites 
for monuments and attending 
dedication ceremonies . . 650.00 

1891 . For High- Water Mark monument 200.00 

Total .... $2,200.00 



200 



The National Park 



MARYLAND 

1888. Appropriation for the erection of 

monuments r.nd tablets 
For the purcluise of land upon 
which to eroct t^e monuments 
and tablets .... 

Total .... 

WEST VIRGINIA 

1892. Col. John. B. Bachclder . 

1893. Thomas C. Miller, Secretary 

Total .... 

OHIO 

1885. For the purchase of land upon 

which to erect n nionumen t to 
soldierc of Ohio v/ho died at 
Gettysburg .... 

1886. Supplementary 

Total .... 

INDIANA 

1885. For the erection of monuments . 

ILLINOIS 

1889. For regimental monuments 
1080. For tne Memorial Association 



$5,000.00 

1,000.00 

$6,000.00 

$200.00 
333-33 

^S33'33 



> 5,000.00 
35,000.00 



$40,000.00 



53,000.00 



$5,000.00 
1. 000. 00 



Total 



$6,000.00 



Gettysburg Memorial Association 201 



MICHIGAN 

1887. Memorial Association for ground 
1887. Michigan Cavalry Brigade monu 

ment .... 
1887. Seven regiments of infantry, 

$1,350.00 each 

1887. Battery I, First Light Artillery 
1889. Expenses of dedication 

1889. Expenses of soldiers attending 
dedication . 

Total . 

WISCONSIN 

1888. For the purchase of land . 
1888. For monument to each of the six 

Wisconsin regiments 
1888. Company G. ist U. S. Sharp 
shooters 

Total . 

MINNESOTA 

1873. Gettysburg Memorial Association 

1893. Additional land 

1893. Large monument and bronze 

work, ist Regiment 
1893. Small monument and bronze 

work, ist Regiment 
1893. Grading and sodding 
1 89 1. High- Water Mark monument . 



$ 2,500.00 

5,400.00 

9,450.00 
1,000.00 
2,000.00 

5,000.00 
$25,350.00 



$1 


500.00 


6 


000.00 




500.00 


$8 


,000.00 


$ I 


,000.00 




136.00 



16,384.00 

2,500.00 

92.00 

200.00 



Total 



$20,312.00 



202 



The National Park 



The wliole amount contributed is 
Maine 

New Hampshire 
Vermont . 
Massachusetts 
Rhode Island 
Connecticut 
New York 
New Jersey 
Pennsylvania 
Delaware . 
Maryland 
West Virginia 
Ohio 
Indiana 
Illinois 
Michigan . 
Wisconsin 
Minnesota 

Total 



as follows: 

$30,300.00 

4,500.00 

17,953-00 

30,000.00 

3,400.00 

5,700.00 

224,825.00 

44,225.00 

374,377.22 

2,200.00 

6,000.00 

533-33 

40,000.00 

3,000.00 

6,000.00 

25,350.00 

8,000.00 

20,312.00 

$246,675.55 



APPENDIX B 

War Department 
Office of the Secretary 

Washington, May 25, 1893. 

Order No. — 

Colonel John P. Nicholson of Pennsylvania, 
Colonel John B. Bachelder of Massachusetts, and 
General William H. Forney of Alabama are appointed 
a Commission, under the authority given by Act of 
Congress approved March 3, 1893, ^^^ ^^^y 2,re 
directed to take such immediate steps as the laws 
permit to preserve the linos of battle at Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania, and to report to the Secretary of War 
on or before July 20th, next, a definite plan for exe- 
cuting, within the limits of the appropriation, the 
further provisions of that law relative to the Gettys- 
burg Battle-field. 

Daniel S. Lamont, 
Secretary of War. 



203 



APPENDIX C 

Washington, May 29th, 1893. 

Col. John P. Nicholson, 

Gettysburg Battle-field Commission. 

Sir: Since by the terms of the act making provi- 
sion for the preservation of the features of the Gettys- 
burg battle-field the work is to be done under the 
direction of the Secretary of War, I have to suggest 
that the Commission, at its meeting on Wednesday, 
the 31st instant, should organize by the election of a 
president, who shall be its principal executive ofBcer, 
not only in its recommendations and communications 
to the Department, but also in its business transac- 
tions and dealings with the public. In addition to 
this he should approve all vouchers for expenditures 
which are submitted to the Department for payment. 

It is my judgment that the Commission should 

establish its principal ofhce at Gettysburg, and that 

it should transact its business at that point. To 

that end you are hereby authorized to hire suitable 

ofhce rooms in the town of Gettysburg, the lease 

of which shall become effective from July ist, proximo. 

As it is probable that you will find some clerical and 

technical assistance necessary in the prosecution of 

your work, you will please submit such recommenda- 

204 



Gettysburg Memorial Association 205 

tions in reference thereto as you may find necessary 
in the pubHc interests. Authority is hereby granted 
for the purchase of ofhce furniture not exceeding 
$250 in cost, and for the purchase in open market 
of such instruments and surveying material as may 
be necessary for the prehminary location of the lines 
of battle. You are also authorized to procure from 
the Supply Division of the War Department and from 
the Government Printing Office on proper requisi- 
tions such stationery and blank forms as may be 
necessary for official purposes. 

As to the general policy of the Commission, I have 
to request that its immediate work shall be directed 
to the preservation of the lines and evidences of 
battle, and V.irX no plan shall be entered upon involv- 
ing the outlr.y of money which would in its execution 
exceed the limit of the present appropriation. I 
believe tliat tlie practice hitherto pursued by the 
Battle-field Memorial Association of purchasing 
strips and small parcels of land rather than large 
areas should continue to prevail unless Congress 
otherwise directs. 

In vie^/ of the fact that the positions of the various 
organizations of the Union and Confederate armies 
have already been determined with substantial 
accuracy, it is not believed that many questions will 
arise as to which there is likely to be serious difference 
of opinion. Shoi:ld differences arise, however, in 
regard to the acquisition or ownership of land, the 
position of troops, or any other subject of importance, 



2o6 The National Park 

it is my desire that they be so carefully and exhaus- 
tively considered, from all points of view, as to result 
in a unanimous recommendation on the part of the 
Commission. 

In conclusion, I venture to express the hope that 
the work entrusted to your hands will be brought to 
an early and satisfactory conclusion. 
Very respectfully, 

Daniel S. Lamont, 

Secretary of War, 



APPENDIX D 

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL MILITARY PARK AT 
GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled, That the Secretary of War is hereby au- 
thorized to receive from the Gettysburg Battle-field 
Memorial Association, a corporation chartered by 
the State of Pennsylvania, a deed of conveyance to 
the United States of all the lands belonging to said 
association, embracing about eight hundred acres, 
more or less, and being a considerable part of the 
battle-field of Gettysburg, together with all rights of 
way over avenues through said lands acquired by 
said association, and all improvements made by it in 
and upon the same. Upon the due execution and 
delivery to the Secretary of War of such deed of con- 
veyance, the Secretary of War is authorized to pay 
to the said Battle-field Memorial Association the sum 
of two thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may 
be necessary to discharge the debts of said associr.tion, 
the amount of such debts to be verified by the officers 
thereof, and the sum of two thousand dollars is hereby 
appropriated out of any money in the treasury not 
otherwise appropriated to meet and defray such 

chaises. 

207 



2o8 The National Park 

Sec. 2. That as soon as the lands aforesaid shall 
be conveyed to the United States the Secretary of 
War shall take possession of the same, and such other 
lands on the battle-field as the United States have 
acquired, or shall hereafter acquire, by purchase or 
condemnation proceedings; and the lands aforesaid 
shall be designated and known as the "Gettysburg 
National Park." 

Sec. 3. That the Gettysburg National Park shall, 
subject to the supervision and direction of the Secre- 
tary of War, be in charge of the Commissioners here- 
tofore appointed by the Secretary of War for the 
location and acquisition of lands at Gettysburg, and 
their successors; the said Commissioners shall have 
their office at Gettysburg, and while on duty shall be 
paid such compensation out of the appropriation pro- 
vided in this act as the Secretary of War shall deem 
reasonable and just. And it shall be the duty of the 
said Commissioners, under the direction of the Secre- 
tary of War, to superintend the opening of such ad- 
ditional roads as may be necessary for the purposes 
of the park and for the improvement of the avenues 
heretofore laid out therein, and to properly mark the 
boundaries of the said park, and to ascertain and defi- 
nitely mark the lines of battle of all troops engaged in 
the battle of Gettysburg, so far as the same shall fall 
within the limits of the park. 

Sec. 4. That the Secretary of War is hereby 
authorized and directed to acquire, at such times and 
in such manner as he may deem best calculated to 



The Act Establishing Park 209 

serve the public interest, such lands in the vicinity 
of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, not exceeding in area 
the parcels shown on the map prepared by Major- 
General Daniel E. Sickles, United States Army, and 
now on file in the office of the Secretary of War, 
which were occupied by the infantry, cavalry and 
artillery on the first, second and third days of July, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and such other 
adjacent lands as he may deem necessary to preserve 
the important topographical features of the battle- 
field; Provided, That nothing contained in this act 
shall be deemed and held to prejudice the rights 
acquired by any State or by any military organization 
to the ground on which its monuments or markers 
are placed, nor the right of way to the same. 

Sec. 5. That for the purpose of acquiring the lands 
designated and described in the foregoing section not 
already acquired and owned by the United States 
and such other adjacent land as may be deemed 
necessary by the Secretary of War for the preservation, 
and marking of the lines of battle of the Union and 
Confederate armies at Gettysburg, the Secretary of 
War is authorized to employ the services of the Com- 
missioners heretofore appointed by him for the 
location, who shall proceed, in conformity with his 
instructions and subject in all things to his approval, 
to acquire such lands by purchase, or by condemna- 
tion proceedings, to be taken by the Attorney-General 
in behalf of the United States, in any case in which 
it shall be ascertained that the same can not be 
14 



2IO The National Park 

purchased at prices deemed reasonable and just by 
the said Commissioners and approved by the Secre- 
tary of War. And such condemnation proceedings 
may be taken pursuant to the act of Congress ap- 
proved August first, eighteen hundred and eighty- 
eight, regulating the condemnation of land for public 
uses, or the joint resolution authorizing the purchase 
or condemnation of land in the vicinity of Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania, approved June fifth, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-four. 

Sec. 6. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary 
of War to establish and enforce proper regulations for 
the custody, preservation, and care of the monuments 
now erected or which may be hereafter erected within 
the limits of the said national military park ; and such 
rules shall provide for convenient access by visitors 
to all such monuments within the park, and the ground 
included therein, on such days and within such hours 
as may be designated and authorized by the Secretary 
of War. 

Sec. 7. That if any person shall destroy, mutilate, 
deface, injure, or remove, except by permission of the 
Secretary of War, any column, statue, memorial 
structure, or work of art that shall be erected or 
placed upon the grounds of the park by lawful author- 
ity, or shall destroy or remove any fence, railing, 
inclosure, or other work for the protection or orna- 
ment of said park or any portion thereof, or shall de- 
stroy, cut, hack, bark, break down, or otherwise injure 
'any tree, bush, or shrubbery that may be growing 



The Act Establishing Park 211 

upon said park, or shall cut down or fell or remove 
any timber, battle relic, tree or trees, growing or 
being upon said park, or hunt within the limits of the 
park, or shall remove or destroy any breastworks, 
earthworks, walls, or other defences or shelter or any 
part thereof constructed by the armies formerly 
engaged in the battles on the land or approaches to 
the park, or shall violate any regulation made and 
published by the Secretary of War for the government 
of visitors within the limits of said park, any person so 
offending and found guilty thereof, before any justice 
of the peace of the county in which the offence may 
be committed, shall, for each and every such offence, 
forfeit and pay a fine, in the discretion of the justice, 
according to the aggravation of the offence, of not less 
than five nor more than five hundred dollars, one- 
half for the use of the park and the other half to the 
informer, to be enforced and recovered before such 
justice in like manner as debts of like nature are now 
by law recoverable in the county where the offence 
may be committed. 

Sec. 8. That the Secretary of War is hereby au- 
thorized and directed to cause to be made a suitable 
bronze tablet, containing on it the address delivered 
by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
at Gettysburg on the nineteenth day of November, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-three, on the occasion of 
the dedication of the national cemetery at that placet 
and such tablet, having on it besides the address a 
medallion likeness of President Lincoln, shall be 



212 The National Park 

erected on the most suitable site within the limits of 
said park; which said address was in the following 
words, to wit: 

" Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in 
liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal. 

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and 
so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a 
great battle-field of that war. We have come to 
dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place 
for those who here gave their lives that that nation 
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that 
we should do this. 

** But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we can- 
not consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The 
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or 
detract. The world will little note, nor long remem- 
ber, what we say here; but it can never forget what 
they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be 
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they 
who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great 
task remaining before us; that from these honored 
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for 
which they gave the last full measure of devotion; 
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not 
have died in vain ; that this nation, under God, shall 



The Act Establishing Park 213 

have a new birth of freedom, and that government 
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not 
perish from the earth." 

And the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much 
thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, 
out of any money in the treasury not otherwise 
appropriated, to pay the cost of said tablet and me- 
dallion and pedestal. 

Sec. 9. That, to enable the Secretary of War ta 
carry out the purposes of this act, including the pur- 
chase or condemnation of the land described in sections: 
four and five of this act, opening, improving, and 
repairing necessary roads and avenues, providing 
surveys and maps, suitably marking the boundaries 
of the park, and for the pay and expenses of the Com- 
missioners and their assistants, the sum of seventy- 
five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be 
necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money 
in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated; and all 
disbursements made under this act shall require the 
approval of the Secretary of War, who shall make 
annual report of the same to Congress. 

Approved, February 11, 1895. 



INDEX 



Alexander, Gen. E. P., 53, 64 
Ames, Gen. Adelbert, 34 
Andrew, Hon. John A., 117, 

124 
Appropriations of Congress 
for the National Park, 185 
Archer, Gen. J. J., 23 
Archer's brigade captured, 23 
Armistead, Gen. L. A., 53, 

56, 154 
Army of Northern Virginia, 
reorganized after the bat- 
tle of Chancellorsville, 4; 
strength at Gettysburg, 4, 
63; position Jime 30, 16; 
losses in the battle, 63 
Army of the Potomac, reor- 
ganized after the battle of 
Chancellorsville, 3 ; strength 
at Gettysburg, 4, 63; posi- 
tion June 26, 14; position 
June 30, 17; position July 
2, 34, 35; losses at Gettys- 
burg, 63 
Arnold, George, 146, 190 
Arnold, I. N., 99 
Averill, Gen., 3 

B 

Bachelder, John B., 150, 152, 
154, 159, 163, 187, 191, 203 
Bancroft, Hon. George, 129 
Barlow, Gen. F. C, 27 



Bamham, Gen. H. A., 19a 
Batterson, J. G., 139 
Baugher, Rev. Dr. H. L., 107, 

120 
Beaver, Gen. J. A., 192 
Beecher, Henry Ward, 139 
Bell, Maj. Robert, 191 
Berry, Col. John S., 136 
Birney, Gen. D. B., 40, 44 
Blair, Hon. Montgomery, 95, 

106 
Bliss, Col. Alexander, 129 
Bond, George W., 117 
Briggs. Col. G. C, 192 
Brook-Rawle, Lieut. -Col. Wil- 
liam, 59 
Brooks, Noah, 100 
Brown, L. W., 136 
Bucktail Brigade, 180 
Buehler, A. D., 190, 192 
Buehler, Col. C. H., 191 
Buford Avenue, 174, 175, 180 
Buford, Gen. N. B., 3; at 
Brandy Station, 10; com- 
mands First Division Cav- 
alry Corps, 16; approaches 
Gettysburg, 18 ; position on 
the morning of July i, 19; 
checks Hill's advance until 
the arrival of First Corps, 
20-23 
Burials at Gettysburg, 138 
Bums, John, 23 
Butterfield, Gen. Daniel, 36, 
44 



215 



2l6 



Index 



Carey, Henry C, 190 

Carlisle, 13 

Carman Avenue, 186 

Carr, Gen. J. B., 192 

Cashtown, 13 

Cavalry Corps of the Army 
of the Potomac, 3, 10, 16 

Cemetery at Gettysburg es- 
tablished, 81-86; arrange- 
ments for its consecration, 
87-94; provisions for its 
completion and mainte- 
nance, 136-140 

Chamberlain Avenue, 179 

Chamberlain, Gen. J. L., 43, 
191 

Chambersburg, 12, 13 

Chase, Hon. S. P., 92, 93 

Coit, Alfred, 136 

Colgrove Avenue, 186 

Colgrove, Col. Silas, 192 

Comte de Paris, 54 

Confederate Avenue, 166, 

175. 179 
Confederates visit the battle- 
field, 151, 168 
Connecticut's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 196 
Cope, Lieut.-Col. E. B., 165, 

171, 178, 187, 188 
Couch, Gen. D. N., 16, 75, 76 
Crawford Avenue, 174, 179 
Crawford, Gen. S. W., 191 
Curtin, Hon. A. G., 13, 81, 82, 

84, 87, 92, 136 
Custer, Gen, G. A., 59, 61 
Cutler, Gen. L., 22, 23 

D 
Danner, Joel B., 190 
Davis, Gen. J. R., 22, 23 



Davis, Jefferson, 109, no 
Delaney, Alfred, 119 
Delaware's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 199 
De Peyster, Gen. J. W., 190 
Detwiler, S. B., 181 
Devin, Gen. T. C, 19 
Doubleday Avenue, 186 
Doubleday, Gen. Abner, 24, 

26, 27, 45 
Douglas, James, 134, 135 
Dudley, Col. W. W., 192 
Duffie, Gen. A. N., 3, 10 



East Confederate Avenue, 
176, 177 

Edwards, Henry, 117, 136 

Everett, Hon. Edward, 87, 
88, 89, 91, 92, 95, 100, 106, 
107, 108-113, 122, 123, 127 

Ewell, Gen. R. S., in com- 
mand of the Second Corps, 
4; leaves Culpeper, 10; 
attacks Milroy, 11; in 
Pennsylvania, 13 ; his move- 
ments arouse the people as 
to the danger that threat- 
ens them, 13; approaches 
Gettysburg, and becomes 
involved in the battle Heth 
had opened, 26; occupies 
Gettysburg, 28 ; is criticised 
by Longstreet, 43; his ef- 
forts upon the Union right 
unsuccessful, 44, 47; his 
battle-line, 177 



Fairchild, Gen. Lucius, 192 
Famsworth, Gen. E. J., 61, 
62 



Index 



217 



Fish, Mrs. Gov., 128 
Forney, Gen. William H., 

163, 168, 203 
Fremantle, Lieut. -Col., 56, 57 
French, B. B., 107, 113 
French, Gen. W. H., 46. 73 



Gamble, Col. William, 19, 21 
Garlington, Col. E. A., 183 
Gamett, Gen. R. B., 53, 56 
Geary, Gen. John W., 34, 43, 

47, 146, 190 
Gettysburg Battle-field Me- 
morial Association, 143- 
162 
Gettysburg Electric R. R., 

167, 168 
Gettysburg National Park 

Commission, 163-189 
Gibbon, Gen. John, 34, 44, 

54, 55 

Goldsborough, C. E., 192 

Graham, C. K., 190 

Greene, Gen. G. S., 193 

Greenwood, 13 

Gregg, Gen. David McM., 3; 
at Brandy Station, 10; 
commands Second Divi- 
sion of the Cavalry Corps, 
16; assists in checking 
Johnson's advance on the 
Union right, July 2, 44; 
repulses attack of Stuart's 
cavalry, July 3, 59-61; 
services of cavalry under 
Gregg recognized, 153 ; 
member of the Gettysburg 
Battle-field Memorial Asso- 
ciation, 192 

Gregg, Gen. J. Irvin, 59 



H 



Hagerstown, t2 

Hale, Hon. Charles, 117, 118, 

124 
Halleck. Gen. H. W., makes 
suggestion to Hooker con- 
cerning the Gettysburg 
campaign, 8; his instruc- 
tions to Gen. Meade when 
Meade succeeded Gen. 
Hooker, 1 5 ; informs Meade 
of the President's desire to 
have the victory at Gettys- 
burg followed up vigor- 
ously, 71; expresses the 
President 's disappointment 
at Lee's escape, 72 
Hamilton, Calvin, 192 
Hammond, S. A., 187 
Hampton, Gen. Wade, 59 
Hancock, Gen, W. S., in com- 
mand of the Second Corps, 
3; ordered by Meade to 
take command at Gettys- 
burg, and reaches the field 
about 4 30, P-M., July i, 
28; reports to Meade, 30, 
31; attends council of war, 
44; wounded in Pickett's 
charge, and urges Union 
advance after Pickett's fail- 
ure, 67 ; equestrian statue 
of, dedicated, 171; member 
of Gettysburg Battle-field 
Memorial Association, 191 
Hapgood, Norman, 134 
Harper's Ferry, 14 
Hartranft, Gen. J. F., 190 
Hastings, Gen. D. S., 193 
Hay, Col. John, 95, 131 
Hays, Gen. Alexander, 34 



2l8 



Index 



Hazlett, Lieut. Charles E., 42 

Hazzard, Maj. C. W., 191 

Heister, A. D., 190 

Heth's division of Hill's 
Corps approaches Gettys- 
burg June 30, 18; returns 
on the morning of July i, 
and opens the battle of 
Gettysburg, 22 

Heth, Gen. Harry, 19, 22, 23, 
168 

High-Water Mark monument, 

157, 158 
Hill, Gen. A. P., in command 
of the Third Corps, 4; in 
the first day's fight at 
Gettysburg, 19, 27, 32; in 
the second day's fight, 39, 
43 ; his artillery in the third 
day's fight, 50 
Hirsh, W. M., 190 
Holtzworth, W. S., 192 
Hood's division, 48, 49 
Hooker, Gen. Joseph, reor- 
ganizes the Army of the 
Potomac, 3; plan of cam- 
paign, 6-8; preliminary 
movements, 8 ; leaves Fred- 
ericksburg, 1 1 : follows Lee 
into Maryland, and is re- 
lieved of the command of 
the Army of the Potomac 
at his own request, 14 
Homers, Charles, 190, 191 
Howard Avenue, 175 
Howard, Gen. O. O. in com- 
mand of the Eleventh 
Corps, 3; reaches Gettys- 
burg and assumes com- 
mand of the troops on the 
death of Reynolds, 24; 
establishes his headquar- 



ters at the Cemetery, 35 ; m 
command of the field until 
about 4.30 P.M., 28; orders 
the First and Eleventh 
Corps to fall back to Ceme- 
tery Hill, 27; selects the 
position for the troops on 
retiring, 28, 29; at the 
council of war, 44 ; delivers 
address at the laying of the 
corner - stone of the na- 
tional monument at Gettys- 
burg, 139 
Hoyt, Gen. H. M., 190 
Humphrey, Gen. A. A., 40, 41 
Hunt, Gen. Henry J., 3 ; asked 
by Meade to examine Sick- 
les 's proposed line in the 
direction of the Peach Or- 
chard, 36, 37; his artillery 
in connection with Pick- 
ett's charge, 51, 52 



Illinois' s expenditures at Get- 
tysburg, 200 

Indiana's expenditures at 
Gettysburg, 200 

Iron Brigade, 23 

J 

Jackson, Gen. T. J., 41 
Jacobs, Prof. M., 32, 35, 63, 
68 



Keenan, Col. T. S., 168 
Kemper, Gen. J. L., 53 
Kennedy, Hon. John P., 129 
Kilpatrick, Gen. Judson, 15, 
16, 59, 61, 63 



Index 



219 



Lambert, Maj. W. H., 104 
Lamon, Hon, Ward H., 122 
Lamont, Hon. Daniel S., 163, 

206 
Lane, Gen. J. H,, 53 
Lee, Gen. Fitzhugh, 59 
Lee, Gen. R. E., reorganizes 
the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, 4; plans an invasion 
of Maryland, 4; concen- 
trates his army at Culpeper, 
6; reviews Stuart's cavalry 
at Brandy Station, 9; 
crosses the Potomac, 12; 
concentrates his army at 
Hagerstown, 12; then at 
Cashtown, 13; sets his col- 
umns in motion and hurries 
to Gettysburg, 20; reaches 
the field, 29; decides to 
attack Meade, 30; does not 
accept Longstreet's sug- 
gestion to file round the 
Union right, 35; his plan 
for July 2, 38, 39; his report 
of the fight at the Peach 
Orchard, 40; comment on 
the second day's fight, 45; 
arrangements for the third 
day's fight, 47-50; wit- 
nesses the failure of Pick- 
ett's charge, 57; his losses 
at Gettysburg, 63 ; orders a 
retreat, 67; succeeds in 
getting his army across the 
Potomac, 73; disappointed 
at the results of the cam- 
paign, 76 
Lee, Gen. W. H. P., 59 
Lewis, Gen., 168 



Lincoln, Abraham, writes to 
Gen. Hooker conceminor 
the campaign about to 
open, 7,8; disappointed at 
Gen. Meade's failure to 
follow up his victory at 
Gettysburg, 68 ; appoints 
Meade a Brigadier-General 
in the Regular Army, 70; 
added disappointment, 73; 
letter to Meade, 74-76; is 
invited to be present at the 
consecration of the ceme- 
tery at Gettysburg, and 
make a brief address, 90, 
91; accepts, 92; the ar- 
rangements for the journey, 
93,94; brief evening speech, 
96; continues work on his 
address, 98; no attention 
given to the address on the 
way to Gettysburg, 99 ; the 
first draft of the address, 
loi, 105; attends the con- 
secration service, 106; de- 
livers his address, 11 4-1 16; 
Hon. Charles Hale's report 
of the address, 118,119; the 
return to Washington, 121; 
impression made by the 
address, 122-125; Mr. Lin- 
coln revises his address, 
126-132; high character of 
the address, 133; the clos- 
ing words not borrowed, 
i34> 135; the address re- 
corded in bronze on the 
national monument in the 
National Cemetery at Get- 
tysburg, 140; Congress 
appropriates money for 
a tablet at Gettysburg 



220 



Index 



containing the address, 
170, 211-213 
Linehan, J. C, 192 
Lofland, Col. Gordon, 136 
Lomax, Gen. J. J., 182, 187 
Longstreet, Gen. James, in 
command of the First 
Corps, 4; leaves Culpeper, 
1 2 ; position of his corps 
June 30, 17; sets his corps 
in motion for Gettysburg 
July I, 19; reaches Gettys- 
burg in advance of his 
troops, and with Lee ex- 
amines the position of the 
Union army, 29; his sug- 
gestion as to the plan to be 
adopted not accepted by 
Lee, 3 5 ; his statement con- 
cerning Sickles 's position 
at the Peach Orchard, 37 
(note) ; receives Lee's order 
for July 2, 39; criticism of 
Hill and Ewell, 43; com- 
ment on the second day's 
fight, 45; objects to Pick- 
ett's charge, 48, 49; gives 
the order reluctantly, 53; 
witnesses the disastrous 
result, 57; expects an im- 
mediate Union advance, 
62; not disobedient at 
Gettysburg, 64 

M 

MacVeagh, Wayne, 96 

Maine's expenditures at Get- 
tysburg, 193 

Maps of the battle-field, 178, 
179 

Maryland Musical Associa- 
tion, 113 



Maryland's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 201 
Mason, Hon. L. B., 136 
Massachusetts' expenditures 

at Gettysburg, 195 
Mattern, H. W., 188 
Maury, Lieut. M. F., 135 
McAllister, H. N., 190 
McClellan, Gen. G. B., 68 
McConaughy, David, 146, 

147, 190 
McCreary, R. G., 190, 191 
Mcintosh, Gen. J. B., 59 
McLaws's division, 48, 49 
McPherson, Hon. Edward, 

104, 190, 192 
McSwope, S., 192 
Meade Avenue, 174 
Meade, Gen. G. C, in com- 
mand of the Fifth Corps, 3 ; 
succeeds Hooker in com- 
mand of the Army of the 
Potomac, 15; moves the 
army northward, 16; his 
order for July i, 20; is in- 
formed of the situation at 
Gettysburg by Hancock, 
30; decides to accept Lee's 
challenge and reports to 
Gen. Halleck, 31, 32 ; 
reaches Gettysburg at i 
A.M., July 2, 34; order for 
examination of roads in the 
rear probably misunder- 
stood by Gen. Butterfield, 
36; is asked by Gen. Sick- 
les to determine his posi- 
tion, 36; his statement with 
reference to Sickles 's line, 
38; sends Gen. Warren to 
Little Round Top, 41; 
holds a council of war, 44; 



Index 



221 



prepares to continue the 
struggle, 45; takes pre- 
cautionary measures, 46; 
anxiety as to his right, 47; 
strength of his artillery in 
connection with Pickett's 
charge, 51; prisoners and 
colors taken in this charge, 
55; makes no counter 
charge, 62, 63; losses at 
Gettysburg and prisoners 
captured, 63 ; announces 
his victory, 66; fails to 
follow up the victory, 67; 
discovers Lee's retreat, and 
follows, 69 ; objects to prod- 
dings from Washington, 7 1 ; 
asks to be relieved of his 
command, but the request 
is not granted, 74; is in- 
vited to be present at the 
consecration of the ceme- 
tery at Gettysburg, 89; 
delivers the address at the 
dedication of the national 
monument at Gettysburg, 
89; equestrian statue of 
Meade dedicated, 171 
Meredith, Gen. Solomon,2 2 , 23 
Michigan's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 201 
Miller, Capt. W. E., 192 
Milroy, Gen. R. H., 10, 11 
Minnesota's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 201 
Monument of the Second 

Massachusetts, 149 
Morton, Hon. O. P., 139 

N 

National monument at Get- 
tysburg, 139, 140 



National Park at Gettysburg, 

its development, 143-162; 

act establishing it, 207-213 
New Hampshire's expendi- 
tures at Gettysburg, 193; 

194 
New Jersey's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 197, 198 
New York's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 197 
Newton, Gen. John, 44 
Nicholson, Lieut. -Col. John 

P-, 131. 163, 187, 193, 203, 

204 
Nicolay, John G., 95, 100, 

loi, 102, 103, 104, 106, 

113, 126, 129, 135 
Norris, Hon. B. W., 136 
North Confederate Avenue, 

186 



Ohio's expenditures at Get- 
tysburg, 200 
O'Rorke, Col. P. H., 42 



Paris, Comte de, 54 
Parker, Theodore, 134 
Pattison, Gov. R. E., 191 
Peach Orchard line and fight, 

36-40 
Pender, Gen. W. D., 19 
Pendleton, Gen. W. N., 4 
Pennsylvania Department 
G. A. R. at Gettysburg, 
147, 148 
Pennsylvania Legislature in- 
corporates the Gettysburg 
Battle-field Memorial Asso- 
ciation, 143; appropriates 



222 



Index 



money for the purchase of 
land at Gettysburg, 145; 
erects sign-boards locating 
the position of her regi- 
ments on the battle-field, 
152; erects equestrian stat- 
ues to Hancock and Meade, 
171; and to Reynolds, 176 
Pennsylvania's expenditures 

at Gettysburg, 198, 199 
Percival, James G., 119 
Pettigrew, Gen, J. J., 18, 53, 

55 
Pickett's charge, 47-57, i?^ 
Pierce, Gen. B. R., 192 
Pleasonton Avenue, 174 
Pleasonton, Gen. Alfred, com- 
mands a division in the 
cavalry corps, 3; engages 
Stuart's cavalry at Brandy 
Station, 9, 10; urges a gen- 
eral advance of the Union 
army at Gettysburg after 
the failure of Pickett's 
charge, 67 
Poore, Ben Perley, 99 



Quimby, William P., 99 
R 

Rea, Capt. J. P., 192 

Regular Army monuments 
and markers, 181, 182 

Reynolds Avenue, 174, 175, 
180, 186 

Reynolds, Capt. G. H., 146 

Reynolds, Gen. John F., in 
command of the First 
Corps, 3; in command of 
the left wing of the Army 



of the Potomac, 11; pro- 
ceeds to Emmittsburg, 16; 
to Gettysburg, 21; opposes 
the approach of Hill's corps 
and is killed, 22; Everett's 
tribute, 112; equestrian 
statue at Gettysburg dedi- 
cated, 176 
Rhode Island's expenditures 

at Gettysburg, 196 
Rhodes, Col. E. H., 192 
Richardson, Maj. C. A., 187 
Ricketts, Capt. R. B., 146 
Robbins, Maj. W. M., 168, 

182, 187 
Robinson, Gen. J. C, 191 
Ruger, Gen. T. H., 47 
Russell, Earl, 108 



Saunders, William, 84 
Scales, Gen. A. M., 53 
Schenck, Gen, R. C, 11, 106 
Schick, J. L., 190, 191 
Schurz, Gen. Carl, 24, 27, 34 
Scobey, Hon, Levi, 136 
Sedgwick Avenue, 173, 174 
Sedgwick, Gen. John, in com- 
mand of the Sixth Corps, 
3 ; makes reconnaissance at 
Fredericksburg, 9 ; ordered 
to make forced march to 
Gettysburg, 3 1 ; attends 
council of war, 44, 45; fol- 
lows Lee's retreating army 
toward Fairfield, 69; op- 
poses an attack on Lee's 
army at the Potomac 
crossing, 73 
Selleck, W. G., 136 
Sellers, Col. E. G., 192 



Index 



223 



Seminary Avenue, 172 
Seward, Hon. W. H., 95, 96, 

97, 99, 106 
Sickel, Gen. H. G., 190 
Sickles Avenue, 172, 176 
Sickles, Gen. D. E., in com- 
mand of the Third Corps, 
3; is hurried towards Get- 
tysburg, 27; reaches the 
field, 34, 35; severely en- 
gaged on the left of Meade's 
line on the afternoon of 
July 2, 36-40; director of 
the Gettysburg Battle-field 
Memorial Association, 192; 
prepares map of land ac- 
quired by the Association, 
209 
Sloat, Col. F. D., 192 
Slocum Avenue, 172 
Slocum, Gen. Henry W., in 
command of the Twelfth 
Corps, 3 ; attends council of 
war at Gettysburg, 44, 45; 
opposes an attack on Lee's 
army at the Potomac 
crossing, 73 ; equestrian 
statue of Slocum dedicated, 
181; headquarters of, 183; 
director of the Gettysburg 
Battle-field Memorial As- 
sociation, 192 
Smith, Gen. W. F., 75 
Souder, Edward, 190 
Stahel, Gen. Julius, 106 
Stannard, Gen. George, 191 
Stannard's brigade at Gettys- 
burg, 56 
Stanton, Hon. E. M., 93 
State expenditures at Gettys- 
burg, 202 
Steel towers erected, 171 



Steinwehr, Gen. Adolph von, 

27, 34 
Stephenson, Col. John G., 

136 
Stewart, Lieut. James, 146 
Stockton, Rev. Dr. T. H., 107 
Stoneman, Gen. George, 3, 

106 
Stonewall Brigade, 167 
Stuart, Gen. J. E. B., in 
command of Lee's cavalry, 
4; at Brandy Station, 10; 
starts on a movement 
round Hooker's right, 12; 
rejoins Lee at Gettysburg, 
50; fails to reach Meade's 
rear at the time of Pickett's 
charge, 57-61 
Sykes Avenue, 173, 179 
Sykes, Gen. George, 15, 35, 
44. 



Tablets, 179, 180, 183 
Tate, Col. S. McD., 168 
Taylor, Bayard, 139 
Taylor, Col., 148 
Taylor, John, 191 
Tremain, Gen. Henry E., 25 
Trimble, Gen. I. R., 53, 62 

U 

Usher, Hon. J. P., 95, 106 

V 

Vanderslice, J. M., 148, 155, 

161, 191 
Veazey, Col. W. G., 192 
Vermont's expenditures at 

Gettysburg, 194 
Vincent, Gen. Strong, 42, 148 



2 24 



Index 



w 

Wadsworth, Gen. James S., 

21, 22, 25, 29, 34 
Wagner, Gen. Louis, 191 
Warren Avenue, 179 
Warren, Gen. G. K., 41, 42, 

44 
Webb, Gen. A. S., 190, 193 
Webster, Daniel, 135 
Weed, Gen. S. H., 42 
West Virginia's expenditures 

at Gettysburg, 200 
Wiedrich, Capt. M., 146 
Wilcox, Gen. C. M., 53, 55 



Williams, Gen. A. S., 44 

Wills, David, 81, 82, 84, 85, 
86,87,88,89,92,95,97,98, 
103, 104, 105, 126, 127, 136 

Wilson, N. G., 150, 191 

Winchester, 10 

Wisconsin's expenditures at 
Gettysburg, 201 

Wise, Capt. H. A., 95 

Worral, Col. James, 136 



York, 13 

Young, Col. C. L., 192 



31^77-1 



